Trying to do right by your kid can be a real minefield, especially when the ex and her new husband are in the picture.

Imagine fighting for your son’s last name while navigating the twists and turns of a messy breakup.

The story you’re about to read dives into one man’s battle to claim his place as a father.

Find out what happened!

AITA for fighting for my son to have my last name instead of his mom and her husband’s?

I (24m) have a 5 month old son with my ex (28f) and things are complicated with her.

We dated for 8 months. She left me for her ex and didn’t tell me she was pregnant.

It was her sister who told me and she told me the baby was mine and my ex knew it.

Imagine finding out you’re going to be a dad from your ex’s sister!

I reached out and told her I wanted to be a parent to my kid.

She retaliated by marrying her ex and they told me he was going to be the father.

I told them I would file with the courts when the baby was born to establish DNA and custody.

My son was born, they did everything to keep me away including adding her husband to the birth certificate and giving the kid his last name.

Which at the time of his birth was just the husband’s name, my ex changed hers last month before our court date.

They also tried to make my son a junior for the husband (first and middle name) but something changed so his name is another form of her husband’s name.

Can you believe the lengths people go to keep someone out of their child’s life?

DNA proved I was the father.

The judge ordered us to attend two mediation and therapy sessions together (me and my ex).

We didn’t reach an agreement because she was clear she wanted me out of the picture and wanted her husband to raise my son as his own.

Talk about a battle for parental rights!

The judge did not take kindly to that.

In my petition to the courts I said I wanted my son to have my last name, not his stepfather’s.

The outcome from court was 50/50 physical and legal custody.

My son’s last name was changed (as was his first name because my ex’s husband was bitter he didn’t get his junior in my son). We are to communicate through an app about our son and nothing else.

Neither of us pays child support. We both have to make decisions for him.

I’m also on the birth certificate now. My ex hates me for all that I did but the sorest point seems to be the last name.

If you thought it couldn’t get worse, wait until you hear from the ex’s mom…

Her mom called me and I only met her twice while I was with my ex.

But she called me and told me I was a petty little kid who was playing daddy when her grandson deserved a real man for a father and he had/has one in the husband and I should have left them to raise him together so he could have the stability of one home.

She told me to deny “that wonderful man” the right to pass his name onto a child he swore to love as his own is awful and that my ex as the mom should share a name with her child.

Then I had one of my ex’s friends come up to me while I was out getting groceries and she called me petty for fighting for my son’s last name.

My ex also brought it up during our last exchange.

She told me she hoped I was damn proud of myself for fighting over the name when she had her husband’s name too and she wanted it to be their family name and I denied their son that (she said their son).

AITA?

This family needs to sort out their priorities, big time.

Reddit had plenty to say about this one…

This commenter doesn’t think he’s any less of a father than the ex’s hubs (obviously).

This one is giving him a pat on the back for standing his ground.

This person finds the dad’s persistence admirable.

Talk about a name game gone wild!

This dad’s got a fight on his hands and the ex’s family needs to chill.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.