[manash84]

Greetings:

I am the proud father of a four year old girl. I hail from Chicago Illinois, which is where my daughter currently resides with her mother. Me and my child's mother were never married, but were seriously involved during our years attending high school, though wwe have since been separated. Over the past five years I've been pursuing my undergraduate degree in Alabama.
Despite the distance I've made numerous efforts to maintain the integral role as the father in my child's life. I'm proud to say that I've made it thus far, especially due to the aid of my daughters patience, however, it has not been a smooth journey. For the past three years I've been paying child support. Although my financial status has not always been favorable I've mananged to sustain some source of employment to support even the most minor of contributions.
At this point I think it's fair to note that I've not always followed Child Support Services guidelines for allocating funds for this purpose and that is partially due to my lack of understanding as well as instances when the immediate need for funds were expressed. Such circumstances have caused damage to my repoire with Child Support Services, but I digress. Aside from the child support issue, differences between my child's mother and me have continued to be cumbersome. Before proceeding further, another important factor is that over the past four years I've been seriously involved with a sincere and considerate young lady to whom I'm currently engaged to wed.
Since our involvement my child mother's respect & empathy for me as a father has become more obscured than ever before. The ironic part is that she is and has been involved with her current mate longer than me and my mate. Regardless, its has been a struggle to nearly impossible for us to meet half way on matters such as holidays, special events, and future planning when it comes to our daughter & me. She has even threaten to relocate without notice (which I believe if it were ever ever financially feasible could occur). And the most recent incident pertained to me trying to get our daughter school information so that I could personally call and touch basis with her teachers & principal but was sharply denied by my child's mother.
All this mentioned I'm sincerely interested to know what steps can I take at protecting my paternal rights to ensure my involvement in my daughters life, avoid further damages, and securing any future gains / assets between me and my spouse that we may adequately provide for our family. Thank you for your time and consideration.

[JudyKayTee]

Greetings:

I am the proud father of a four year old girl. I hail from Chicago Illinois, which is where my daughter currently resides with her mother. Me and my childs mother were never married, but were seriously involved during our years attending high school, though wwe have since been seperated. Over the past five years I've been pursuing my undergraduate degree in Alabama.
Despite the distance I've made numerous efforts to maintain the integral role as the father in my childs life. I'm proud to say that I've made it thus far, especially due to the aid of my daughters patience, however, it has not been a smoothe journey. For the past three years I've been paying child support. Although my financial status has not always been favorable I've mananged to sustain some source of employment to support even the most minor of contributions.
At this point I think it's fair to note that I've not always followed Child Support Services guidelines for allocating funds for this purpose and that is partially due to my lack of understanding as well as instances when the immediate need for funds were expressed. Such circumstances have caused damage to my repoire with Child Support Services, but I digress. Aside from the child support issue, differences between my child's mother and me have continued to be cumbersome. Before proceeding further, another important factor is that over the past four years I've been seriously involved with a sincere and considerate young lady to whom I'm currently engaged to wed.
Since our involvement my child mother's respect & empathy for me as a father has become more obscured than ever before. The ironic part is that she is and has been involved with her current mate longer than me and my mate. Regardless, its has been a struggle to nearly impossible for us to meet half way on matters such as holidays, special events, and future planning when it comes to our daughter & me. She has even threaten to relocate without notice (which I believe if it were ever ever financially feasible could occur). And the most recent incident pertained to me trying to get our daughter school information so that I could personally call and touch basis with her teachers & principal but was sharply denied by my child's mother.
All this mentioned I'm sincerely interested to know what steps can I take at protecting my paternal rights to ensure my involvement in my daughters life, avoid further damages, and securing any future gains / assets between me and my spouse that we may adequately provide for our family. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Go to Court and get an Order of support and visitation. That's the only legal way.

If there is no custody order your "ex" is free to go wherever she wants, whenever she wants, and take the child with her.

You need a Court Order. How does a Child Support Agency figure into this?

[manash84]

Go to Court and get an Order of support and visitation. That's the only legal way.

If there is no custody order your "ex" is free to go wherever she wants, whenever she wants, and take the child with her.

You need a Court Order. How does a Child Support Agency figure into this?

__________________________________________________ _______________________

I mentioned the Child Support Agency because I wanted to provide a general understanding behind me and my child's mother circumstances and also the fact that I've allocated funds via money orders, wires, etc. (all documents saved) - but subsequently received hastles from the Agency because the funds were not dispersed through their process. Needless to say my child's mother was reluctant to provide them with clarity that she had received up to date payments in excess of the court specified requirement.

Can I petition for equal custody, and how? And does it conflict with petitioning for an order of support and visitation?

[ScottGem]

A custody order is not quite enough. You have to get a visitation order as well. Custody just means you have a say in ow your child is raised. Visitation speciies when you can have the child.

You need to get an attorney and get these all down on paper.