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Furthered from a question I asked earlier: Is the son of a non-Jewish father a mamzer?
If someone was born from a non-Jewish father and a Jewish mother (which makes them 100% a Jew), what minhagim do they follow? I would assume their mother's, but what if their mother also does not have a strong family minhag?
Can they choose their minhagim like a ger can, as long as they don't have a specific minhag passed down from their mother?
As explained in naming convention for a Jew with a non-Jewish father? such a person can be called to the Torah using his grandfather's name. Similarly, he would follow the minhagim of his grandfather. This is like a ba'al teshuvah whose (Jewish) father does not have a specific minhag, but who can identify the minhagim of his family farther back. That is in this case, his closest relative is his mother's father and that is the line that he should follow.
Since his grandfather can be identified, the family minhag can usually be determined. If the family minhag cannot be determined, then it would be like any other ba'al teshuvah who would then tend to follow the minhag of his community or the rabbi who has taught him.
This can be seen at Baal Teshuva Minhag which points to a number of rabbonim who state that if the immediate family minhag is not identifiable, then the minhag of the community the ba'al teshuva has joined should be followed.
Similarly, he would follow the minhagim of his grandfather. source? | The case of the ba'al teshuvah doesn't seem comparable, since he following customs through the paternal line; it provides no evidence of this through the maternal line. | ba'al teshuvah who would then tend to follow the minhag of his community or the rabbi who has taught him Source?