Child Support & Custody-attorney?

Updated on October 11, 2006
S.F. asks from New Palestine, IN
4 answers

I recently split from my boyfriend & I need to find out what I need to do to get going on the legal issues of visitations, custody, and child support for our 17 month old daughter..The attorney's I have called in the area are $225 an hr. on average..Do I really need an attorney if he doesn't contest to my wishes of when he sees her & all that? I want to be sure she doesn't sleep over yet anywhere & no out of town trips or vacations away for a long period of time..Do I need an attorney to draw up the entire document or just go to the courthouse & tell them what I want done?? Thanks in advance for any suggestions...

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N.

answers from Indianapolis on

hi. there is a place that can help you called legal services, there phone number is ###-###-####. u need to get all that squared away. make sure he puts her on his health insurance and dental. i am going through a situation now. i didnt have them put my sons education on there now i'm paying for private school and he doesn't have to. not fair at all. my son plays every sport there is and he barley helps out for that too. it should be equal, but its not. good luck!

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K.H.

answers from Indianapolis on

Hello S.. Although your boyfriend does still have legal rights to the child just as much as you do, the courts will tell you the child does'nt stay the night until they are 3 years of age, unless you allow it. Also, you can ask for visitation to be supervised, and it can be supervised by whomever you wish. Depending on where you live, you need to call the prosecutor's office to get child support set up. They will set up a court date, and everything goes from there. This will not cost you any money to set up, and the court provides you a public defender, so that you dont have to pay for an attorney. If you want full custody, you will have to prove the father unfit, and prove why you want supervised visitation. When I divorced my husband, I went through the same thing with our child. He got only supervised visitation 2 a week, only by me and in my home, and she cant stay the night till she is 3 years old. Hope this all helps you out, and good luck!

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A.W.

answers from Indianapolis on

If you go with an attorney it is gonna cost you an arm and a leg. First of all fo you have proof that he is the father? I mean is his name on the birht certificate? That is what i did with my son. His birth dad didn't put his name on my son's certificate. So i went to the child support office and filed papers. THey set up a time for us to go to court. Then he was asked if he wanted to take claim or have a paternity test done. He wanted the test. So the 3 of us were tested. He had to pay for it.$117 i think. He is the father. Once we got the results back we talked to a man. we signed papers and he figured out how much he would have to pay me every 2 weeks. Then you can set up the issue of visitation and things like that. I hope this helps. Let me know if you want to know anything else. cause i have been there.

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D.P.

answers from Indianapolis on

The states attorney or local child support agency can be the "attorney" as far as setting the amount. They are a nuetral party and if you are seeking support, they will handle it. As far as visitation and custody, yes you need a lawyer to get it established legally. Good luck!

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