I was wondering on how I go for joint custody of my daughter? Me and the mother separated about a year ago and since

My name is***** am an attorney in private practice with 20 years experience, including numerous custody cases. Assuming that there is no issue regarding paternity, you would need to file a Petition to Establish Custody in the county where she lives and have the Sheriff serve her with a copy. Once that has occurred, the Court will set a hearing to determine custody and parenting time schedule based upon the best interest of the child. This may be 50/50 (particularly if you live close to one another) or it may be a more traditional weekend/holiday schedule. The Court will also set child support pursuant to your state's guidelines. It is always good to have an experienced attorney for these types of cases if you can afford it.

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Hello, thank you for the question. From the language used, it seems that the expert William is a US lawyer.

I'm a lawyer in Canada, so I can talk to you about this situation. What province are you in? How old is the child? How often are you seeing her now, and is it only in the mother's home?

I understand. There are some concepts that you need to get your head around. But let's get some more information first.

Why does she say that you can only have access on this limited schedule and only under her roof? I assume you've asked her why she insists on it being this way?

Thanks for that, you've answered my next questions.

So it sounds like you're a reasonable and responsible adult, that should help your joint custody claim.

It's likely that the mother will say that the access needs to be in her home because there's no order or anything in writing which states that the child will come back to her.

So if you agree that the child will be returned, you can put it to her in writing that you want to have your parenting with the child outside of her home, and that you'll return her at the agreed times. Then she can't say that this is the reason she's not allowing it.

I know that you want joint custody, and you want 50/50. That will be hard to get if you live far apart but you can still ask for it and see what the court says.

If you're not getting any co-operation then maybe it's time to take this to court yourself. Consult a lawyer to help you with the documents at least, or representing you in full if you can afford it, and get it started. Even if you don't get 50/50 you still want some overnights, and if she moved away from you rather than the other way around then she should be doing some of the transportation too.

Does that make sense? I'm here for your reply and your follow up questions.

Firstly, discuss these issues with her. Do so in writing, and always remain calm and appearing reasonable. You are trying to generate favourable evidence for yourself. If she starts cursing at you and accusing you of things, don't fight fire with fire. If she does that she's handing you good evidence so that's a good thing.

Secondly, find a lawyer near you. Family and friends are a good place for a referral. If you don't have that, try your province's Law Society website and find the Lawyer Referral Service. Or try Lexpert.ca, that's a good site for locating specialized professionals. Set up some free consults to talk about what you need and what it'll cost. Ask for "unbundled services" too, ie what they'd charge to do just the paperwork or to help you along rather than represent you in court which isn't cheap.

Try your provincial Legal Aid program if your income is low.

You'll need to do a financial statement at some point, so get caught up on your taxes if you're behind. Sign up for a Canada Revenue Agency online account so that you can access your CRA documents online and print them yourself at any time, that's a very useful tool which you'll likely use during any family litigation.

Don't try to threaten her, or bully her. Ask straightforward and open ended questions, such as "what are your objections to me taking our daughter out for my parenting time?" and "Why can't I have her overnight or on weekends?". See what she says. Remember that anything you send and receive could be looked at by a judge so keep your cool.

I hope that's a good start. I'm here if there's more to discuss about your topic.

Thank you for the five star rating. I do appreciate it. Ratings improve my site stats and income.

Thank you for the question and thank you for using JustAnswer.

Good luck and stay safe.

Ulysses