Here's a link you might find informative. It indicates that you - and you alone - have legal custody of your kids, if you've never gotten a court declared statement of paternity. That's because you are unmarried. When a man is married, the courts assume he is the father of any children his wife bears (unless contradicting DNA is presented.) When a man is not legally married (forget about common law crap), the courts will
not assume your boyfriend is the father of these kids. If he takes them out of your physical custody, that would be kidnapping, which is a very serious crime.
Can the other parent take my child? - MassLegalHelp
If either you, or your boyfriend, ever want to establish legal paternity, then this link shows what is required:
Establishing Paternity in Court - MassLegalHelp
If you ever wanted to force your boyfriend to pay chikd support, then you would have to establish legal paternity. That means either he and you, both, have to voluntarily sign a document stating he is the father, or you would ask a judge to order mandatory DNA testing.
(These links are for Mass., but I doubt R.I. is much different.)
Here's another link that states things clearly:
http://info.legalzoom.com/father-chi...ody-20714.html
You said earlier that your boyfriend wrote himself "off the mortgage." If that is really true, then that would mean that only you are the owner of the house. So that would make him your tenant, and you coukd evict him. See this link:
How to legally get my boyfriend to move out of my home?
On the other hand, if your boyfriend's name is on the deed to the house, then he legally has as much right to be there as you do. On that case, you could consider moving out yourself. You could find an apartment, take the kids and move into the apartment. (However you would then be in trouble with the bank for not making mortgage payments. But you could just let the bank reposses the house. Then they would probably evict your boyfriend, sell the house and return a portion of the sale proceeds to you and your bf, if they sell it for more than you owe the bank.