Forgetting the legal requirements for a moment, have you considered that there may be a relationship between the son and Father?

Based on the facts as stated, I assume that no custody order yet exists. In the absence of an order establishing the father's paternity and custody/visitation rights, NO--you do not need his permission to move out of state with the child. However, you fail to consider other factors. If you move out of state with the child, you could find yourself in an interstate custody battle. Until you have lived in the new state for at least six months, the state of your former residence is considered the child's home state. The child's home state would have jurisdiction to determine issues of custody and visitation. You could find yourself in the new state having to defend a custody action back in the state of your former residence. Can you afford an interstate custody battle? Also, if you abscond from the state you're currently living in without giving the child's father any say in the matter, you could be viewed as a parent who is UNLIKELY to foster the child's relationship with the other parent. All other things equal in a custody proceeding, a court will generally favor the parent who shows the most willingness to foster the other parent's relationship with the child. From a practical standpoint, you should settle all issues concerning custody, visitation, and removing the child from the state BEFORE you actually move out of state.

this is my situation too. i want to do the best for my son. his father is great but i need to be closer to my family because his family cannot assist in us raising him. there is only his mom and she wants to get paid to babysit. i dotn trust the people out here in brooklyn and i have no friends. his friends are immature and have kids too, but their childrens moms took the kids and not longer have relationships with them. sounds like a developing patttern....

You may not need his permission, but the state would retain jurisdiction and he could file an injunction to have the children returned, as I would teach him how to do. Why do you feel it necessary to punish your children in this manner? All Children Deserve Two Parents Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears has noted, children born to unmarried women and to those in cohabiting relationships “must often overcome increased risks of poverty, education failure, child abuse, delinquency, emotional distress and mental illness.”…….the lack of a father’s guidance in children’s lives is a major cause of their suffering. “Marriage is the best child welfare, crime prevention, anti-poverty program we have,” http://www.barnesville.com/archives/266-gem-from-jim-octuplets.....html Fortune Magazine - Fatherless Families & Crime “Ominously, the most reliable predictor of crime is neither poverty nor race but growing up fatherless.” http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1992/08/10/76732/index.htm Stanford University - Divorce, Nontraditional Families, and Its Consequences For Children "We know that children of divorced parents have more emotional and behavioral problems and do less well in school than children who live with both their Parent." http://www.stanford.edu/~rmahony/Divorce.html