My girlfriend is being brought into court regarding her 6-year old son by his father. Currently she has a restraining order against him that prohibits any contact. But that is old we are willing to drop that being that there is contact for visitation. She has custody and he has only visitation at this point. She was served with a motion of a court hearing but with no information to what it pertains to. We called the court and they told us that he is pursing joint custody, no more child support, and dropping the restraining order. First thing we are fine will dropping the restraining order no problems there. On the other hand the child father has a record of drug abuse and criminal history and we don't see how he can get joint custody. The child doesn't have his own room or bed at his fathers house (which he does at ours). He also owes around $5,000 in arears for his child support. He has recently began to makes payments over the last 6 months. The child is in our care 4.5 day a week and 2.5 days with his father. What actions should we take on this matter proir to walking into the court room? Basically we don't think he should be allowed joint custody becuase of his living arrangements and personal issues. The father hasn't been exactly nice about any of this so I would also like to know if there is something we could do to keep the child from him altogether because we don't believe he is fit to take care of him. Thank you for your time.
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Custody and Child Support...
- Thread Starter sreym03
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Proserpina
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Your girlfriend is fine with him having visitation = she's fine with him being a parent = there's no reason why he shouldn't have some form of custody.
If your girlfriend (not you - because this is legally nothing to do with you at all) genuinely thinks he's unfit, then so is she for letting her child go with an unfit parent 2.5 days a week.
That is, honestly, how the court sees it.
Dad is either fit or he's not - he's not fit just for a couple of days a week (but not the rest of the week) or until he files for custody.
Mom has no chance of being able to keep Dad from HIS child altogether unless she can prove that he's a direct and terrible threat to the child. And she'd be very foolish to even think of requesting that.
With that said, generally Dad needs to prove a change in circumstance. He can't just request joint custody for no good reason since Mom has status quo on her side.
IT's highly unlikely that he'll end up paying no support whatsoever.
If your girlfriend (not you - because this is legally nothing to do with you at all) genuinely thinks he's unfit, then so is she for letting her child go with an unfit parent 2.5 days a week.
That is, honestly, how the court sees it.
Dad is either fit or he's not - he's not fit just for a couple of days a week (but not the rest of the week) or until he files for custody.
Mom has no chance of being able to keep Dad from HIS child altogether unless she can prove that he's a direct and terrible threat to the child. And she'd be very foolish to even think of requesting that.
With that said, generally Dad needs to prove a change in circumstance. He can't just request joint custody for no good reason since Mom has status quo on her side.
IT's highly unlikely that he'll end up paying no support whatsoever.
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