You would be responsible for the full maintenance of the child untill such time that mom gets a job.
Reading your question I get the feeling that you do not know your rights so.....
In a nutshell.•A child, male or female, becomes a major upon reaching 18.
•The biological mother of a child has full parental responsibility of the child, whether she’s married or not.
•The biological father of a child has full responsibility of the child if he’s married to the child’s mother or if he was married to the child’s mother at the time of conception, birth or any time between the child’s conception and birth.
•An unmarried, biological father may ask a court of law to grant him full parental responsibilities if;
1.At the time of the child’s birth, he is living with the mother in a permanent life partnership.
2.Or, if he consents to be identified as the child’s father.
3.Or, successfully applies to be identified as the child’s father.
4.Or, pays damages in terms of customary law.
5.Or, contributes or has tried to contribute to the child’s maintenance and upbringing for a reasonable period of time.
What if he won’t pay? Importantly, the biological father is responsible for the payment of maintenance for the child, regardless of whether he chooses to apply for parental responsibilities or not.
If there is a dispute between the child’s parents about maintenance, the matter has to be dealt with by a family attorney, social worker, social services professional or other suitably qualified person. This applies regardless of whether the child was born before or after the commencement of the new Act.
What does this mean? It doesn’t matter whether the parents are married and they conceive a child, or whether they marry after conception and before the birth of the child: they’re both equally responsible for that child. However, nothing has changed as regards to the law concerning minor children.
And if my child is illegitimate? When a child’s parents are not married, the mother remains the primary caregiver of the child and the father can apply for rights if he complies with one of the requirements mentioned above. Again, the natural father of a child born of unmarried parents still has to pay maintenance for a child under 18 years of age, whether he wants to or not.
Outdated terminology. Courts used words like “custody” and “access” when they referred to children’s rights. The terms which are now used are “care” and “contact”
What does the phrase “full parental responsibilities and rights “ mean? •The responsibility and right to care for the child
•To maintain contact with the child.
•To act as guardian of the child.
•To contribute to the maintenance of the child.
Fathers have more rights now. There are various other matters which a parent or guardian would have to administer, safeguard and consent to for the child. Under the old dispensation, where parties were divorced, one parent (usually the mother) would usually be awarded custody of a minor child and the other parent (usually the father) would be entitled to visitation rights.
The custodian parent would be vested with making all the day-to-day decisions of the minor child including which school the child would attend, what religion the child would practice, where the child would reside and so on.
This is no longer the case.The parents have joint parental responsibilities and rights, and all major decisions relating to the minor child need to be taken by the parties jointly, which is afar healthier situation for the child. A parent is now no longer a “custodian” but may provide the “primary place of residence” for a minor child, and have the “care” of the child.
But he doesn’t want to pay … Some women find themselves in situations where they are involved in relationships, fall pregnant out of wedlock and then discover that their partners want nothing to do with them. They choose to have the child and their partners attempt to avoid responsibility.
In situations like this the mother is entitled to approach the maintenance court for the area she lives in, to claim maintenance from the father of the child. The court will make an order for an appropriate amount. There are people at the court to assist the mother in completing the necessary documentation and serving the papers on the father to appear at court.
Once an order has been made for the payment of such maintenance, and the father fails to pay the maintenance, he could be sent to prison for failing to do so.
When the father of an illegitimate or even legitimate child is unable to pay maintenance for a child, the court may look to the grandparents of the minor child on the father’s side, to decide if they are capable of paying maintenance for that child. So let’s say there is a situation where, for example, the father of a minor child is killed in an accident, and there are paternal grandparents, who are financially able, the mother could ask the court to get the grandparents to give good reason why they should not be ordered to pay maintenance for the minor child.
For additional support go to FAthers 4 Justice website www.f4j.co.za