Ex Girlfriend filing for full custody

[sonsmylife]

HELP!!!!!!!

My son is 5 months old and he lives with his mother in Erie PA, I live in Buffalo. I love my son and miss him so much when i don't get to see him. In the beginning I was only allowed to see my son 2 days out of the week, for 2 hours. I would drive from Buffalo to Erie Pa, see my son for 2 hours and drive back. In December my ex started letting my son sleepover my place from Wed to Saturday, I never miss an opportunity to spend more time with him. I would pick him up faithfully and pay my child support. The problem is when my ex gets mad she wont let me pick up my son. She even threatens me, saying that I'll never see my son again.  Now she wants to file for full custody and she wont let me see my son till a decision has been made by the courts. Can she do this? can she prevent me from seeing my son? I did sign an agreement that stated my visitations would be by mutual aggrement. I'm a wonderful father who just wants to be with my son. I believe that communication & being amicable with my ex is beneficial to my son, but my ex dosent agree. What do I do? What are her chances of winning full custody? If i file for a more guarenteed visitation schecudle with my son would the courts limit my access to every other weekend, instead of from wed to saturday like i'm used to? Please any adivise would help, i'm so afraid of losing my son.

[janM]

If you were not married, most states give automatic custody to the mom. The dad has to prove paternity and establish parenting time and child support in court before he can exercise his rights.

If you have been paying support on your own, she could file for back support, claiming you gave her money as a gift (if she mentions it at all and if you don't have cancelled checks with CS written on them).

Try to think back and document all the times you have had your son. That shows that she did not have a problem with it at one time and establishes status quo. Download the Parenting Time Tracker from this site or the Optimal package. This will be important because some states limit a dad's time with a young baby. Old fashioned but true. Try to prove how much time you've had him (daycare, people you visit with him, etc.).

Take a parenting course and infant CPR. You may be able to file for everything on your own (check with your courthouse) where you are if he has not lived there for 6 months yet. Anything you signed will be useless unless it's filed with the court.

Read all the articles here and join us in chat any evening.

[wendl]

well Jan told you everything I was going to tell you. Make sure you document everything, its also a good idea to have a 3rd party come with you during the exchanges to witness that you do all the driving and how often you have the child.

read everything you can on this site and come visit us in chat