Legal Question in Family Law in Florida

I'm 16 and pregnant, the father is 18. I want full custody of our child because I believe he is unreliable and too immature to properly raise a child. I have a car, I got a job at 6 months pregnant, I got my ged, and I am starting to become more independent. I used to live with him and his parents until we broke up then I moved back in with my family. By the time the baby comes, I will have a separate residence on my parent's land to live in on my own. He was fired from his first job about a week before I moved out, which was roughly four to five months ago. When I did live with him, I (and sometimes his mom) would drive him to work everyday. I paid for groceries with my child support payments from my dad, he paid for nothing. My mom also had to buy us groceries because he spent his money on video games instead of food and I had no job or source of income at the time. He was warned multiple times before being fired for not showing up and sitting around on the job. We both have depression and I have a history of mental illness and drug abuse. I've had multiple suicide attempts which resulted in me being baker acted and also over dosed on pills. But I have been clean for over a year now, I have not had a serious depressive episode in months, and I was recently recieveing counciling which was going very well but I was unable to continue due to my new work schedule. I also have a plan in place with my Obgyn to start anti-depressants as soon as I leave the hospital from giving birth to help combat my depression and possible postpartum depression. I have set up a solid support system around me to make sure that I succeed so that me and my son will have a good life together. I quit smoking cigarettes as soon as I found out I was pregnant. And the father's mom admitted to my mom that he has been severely depressed since I moved out, barely leaves his room, does nothing but play video games all day, refuses to clean up after himself. He also dropped out of school and is making no attempts to get his ged which he said he would, and my parents actually offered to help pay for him to get it, he accepted and never actually did it. He's still completely dependent on his mom in every way and they rely heavily on others and the government. She is disabled and does not work, they live in a low income based apartment complex, the receive food stamps, unemployment, and food from a local church. Their apartment is very small and only has two bedrooms, they have three people living there. There would be no room for the baby. I receive wic benefits and Medicaid but that is the only government help I am receiving. He has also made no attempt to get his driver's license. He is also a type 1 diabetic and despite many people's efforts to get it under control, he refuses to take care of himself. Just a month or so before I got pregnant he was hospitalized because his sugars got out of control. I have also witnessed his mother hitting him in his face and everywhere on his body multiple times. Apparently she also told me that she had to have the police called because he was hitting her. He's also gotten into multiple fist fights with his mom's boyfriend, who lives with them. I have also witnessed many times where his mother goes into a rage and yells and screams profanities, throws things, and hits both him and her boyfriend. That is a very common occurrence in their household. She also bragged to me about how she spanked her boyfriend's cousin's child. I also believe he is a compulsive liar and I think he could actually be diagnosed. He has also been uninvolved the entire pregnancy, basically. When we were dating I had to drag him to doctor's appointment's , which he still didn't show up sometimes. And after I moved out he never bothered coming to another appointment. Hasn't called to ask about the baby. I also reached out to him a while back and tried to get him to try harder, I asked him to just be a little involved, ask how he's doing from time to time. I never heard another thing from him. Then I was diagnosed with Cholestasis and I informed him and he never bothered to check in again. He's also told me before that he doesn't want our son to go to his house at all, and he didn't think it was safe for the baby to be alone with his mother or to stay the night in his house at all. And that he agreed I should have custody. But he constantly changes his mind and I don't know if he'd actually agree to giving me sole custody. I just wanted to know what I should do. I've had people tell me to not put him on the birth certificate and then see if he doesn't ask for paternity test. But I have absolutely no idea what to do and I have no experience with any of this and I'm worried for my son. I grew up with an unreliable parent and I know how hard and heartbreaking it can be, and I'm trying my best to give the best life possible for my son and I don't want his father to come along and ruin everything I've been working so hard for. Sorry if this post is unclear or all over the place. The bottom line is, should I go to court for custody? Would I actually stand any chance if I did? Should I just leave him off the birth certificate? I would really appreciate any advice, thank you. :)


Asked on 3/12/17, 10:10 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Robert McCall Law Office of Robert McCall

Too many issues to attempt to answer. See an experienced Family Law attorney immediately.

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Answered on 3/12/17, 2:33 pm


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