[Nihilistic]

Hi, I have a question that I really need answered.
I'm a 21 year old female residing in Florida.
My ex-boyfriend, who is 25 and the father of my child, has recently taken our 2 and a half year old son and won't let me see him.
What rights do I have and what procedures should I take now? How long must he deny me my son until I actually can do something?
We've had these problems before as well as the fact that he is an alcoholic (which is why I originally left) but I keep getting different answers from everyone. I've never brought the law into this before because I didn't want to get the father in trouble, but I'm tired of all these games and stress that he's putting on me and the possible danger he puts our son in (he will have drunken parties at his place when he has our son!)
I really don't know what to do and I feel alone. Please help me.

[Nihilistic]

Also... we've never had a custody agreement or anything like that.

[ScottGem]

You need to immediately go to Family Court and file for custody. In your petition you accuse the father of parental kidnapping.

Since there has been no court order establishing physical custody, he had the right to take the child, but not to withhold contact from you. This is assuming he is listed as the legal father. You should have gone to court for custody as soon as you split.

Can you prove you had physical custody prior to his taking your son? Also can you prove his alcoholic nature? DUI record, DV record?

You could try reporting this top the police as parental kidnapping, but they may not take action without a court order showing you have primary physical custody.

If you don't have an attorney I suggest you get one, especially if he has one.