Help with custody issue, son taken today, please help.

My eight year old son was born in the state of Florida and his mother and i both signed the birth certificate at the age of sixteen and unwed. Some years later we separated and i began paying child support to her, shortly after i had a back injury preventing me from working to pay and quickly racked up arrears on the case. His mother has never been able to control him based on the mere fact that he is not regularly disciplined in her home. In June of 2006 she was unable to care for his needs and demanded that he move in with me or go up for adoption, of course i then immediately took him into my custody and paid all of my arrears and current support up to date. I understand its not paper work regarding custody so it cant be applied as such but the reason to cease child support through the clerk of court was that he was now residing with me. His mother then moved to south Florida and has lived there since... he has gone to visit her twice... once where there weren't any problems, and the second time i was on vacation in south Florida for a week so i had him stay with his mother 200 miles further south, after about four days of having him she called me demanding that i come get him once again, so i left vacation and went to pick him up, which i did and left it at that. Now this week his mother has been in town to visit and wanting my son to have a relationship with his mother i let him go stay with her while in town, until today she said he's living with her now. So i called the Sheriff's department to see what could be done, but there is no court order regarding custody, but there is numerous things proving he resides with me, including his school paper work, the documents signed last summer when he came to live with (order to cease Child Support papers signed by both of us and the notary with the reason being he now lives with me) on top of that due to the fact that she has not supported him financially at all since he has come to live with me even when requested (i even paid for his food while he visited her.) so i filed for child support a week and a half ago, im not sure how beneficial any of these things are but are all i have at this point in terms of legality anyways. So because there is no court order the sheriff is not allowed to physically remove him from her right now. Ive been advised to go to the court house Monday morning and file for a custody hearing which im doing but im afraid that his mother is going to pull him out of school which starts in eight days here and bring him to south Florida, i know there is laws prohibiting this for out of state but wasn't sure about out of county, etc.? As far as his well being here he is well behaved for the most part and has a scheduled routine, he is in extra circular activities including Boy Scouts and Little League, he is a A-B Honor roll student and has over all lives a much more secure life with myself. My main question is what rights do i have to keep her from fleeing to south Florida with him, pulling him from school, etc. My main complaint is basically abandonment, she demanded he move in with me and has neglected to pay for him financially or even stay in touch on a regular basis and now abruptly wants to just demand he's living with her again. Not to mention the fact thats shes not able to handle him when he becomes a problem and when stressed dumps him thus causing emotional abuse and confusion to my son. The strikes that i have against myself is that when fifteen his mother and i got into a fight, (she literally was beating me, after taking about ten punches to the back of the head i defended myself by pushing her off of me) and subsequently was the one arrested, i know domestic violence charges sway who gets custody, and she later tried to drop charges but in the State of Florida the state picks them up, The thing is i was a minor at the time, so im not sure if that matters. I'm also a felon on probation, not for anything regarding violence or drugs or anything and i know that also can sway cases big time and over all was just wondering what advice anyone would have to give as i don't have a lawyer nor can i afford one right now and looking for some advice on the subject.

I cannot begin to understand the details of what you have posted, so I will just comment generally on the nature of custody. I really haven't a clue what most of this above means aside from the fact that this child is in jeopardy.

Bottom line: Custody is not something decided by parents. Having a child without a court order is POSSESSION, not legally CUSTODY. Whomever has the court ordered custody IS the guardian. Now, for example--if SHE had court ordered custody and she called you and said take the kid or adopt him out and you took the child, you have POSSESSION, not LEGAL CUSTODY. You said you went through the clerk of courts---was paperwork actually FILED at the courthouse legitimizing this change? Or was a change just REQUESTED?

Unfortunately, this child is destined to be bounced back and forth until a set-in-stone custody agreement is ORDERED by the court. Sadly, a mother has as much right to a child as does the father. He is as much yours as hers---but when it comes to practicality, well... you see how that goes.

You MUST hire an attorney if for no other reason than to stop this macabre game of "Lets play Parent for a while and see if I like it yet". While your criminal record MAY be relevant, it is also, from what you say, in the past. The court weighs heavily on what is happening at this moment in time and in the past weeks and months. You must be able to PROVE everything you have said here. You can try to go to court and represent yourself----and hope SHE doesn't have funds for an attorney. Or, you can go to Child Protective Services and ask them to intervene, but chance are, you could BOTH lose the child, then.

If you want to stop this damaging behavior in your child's life, you are going to have to win custody. For this, you must have an attorney who can present you in such a light to the court that your past criminal acts will not be so glaring. It IS all in the presentation. Ask OJ Simpson.

Try legal aid services. Many places have low income programs. Of course, there is always prepaid legal services ( snort ) but, no one ever takes them seriously since they, in fact, do little more than churn out form letters confusing simple terms like "electrical" and "electronic".(There is a REASON they ask for money FIRST!!!) A REAL licensed attorney with experience in family law is what you need for this battle. I believe it will be a difficult one---and you both stand the risk of losing this child if CPS steps in and puts their gnarled hands on everything.

Of course from what you have said, "mommy" will get tired of the child and will be returning him shortly ---once he is IN your possession, ask for an emergency hearing and ask the judge to grant you temporary custody until you can appear to have your case heard.

It's the best you can do ( considering you don't have a human resources department that delivers pizza and polls clergymen).

Good luck.

Other than adding "emergency" to "custody hearing," I believe you already received perfectly good advice before you posted to the forum. I would only suggest you make certain there's clear language that does not permit the child being taken either out of the county or state without either parent's knowledge and/or permission until the decision of custodial parent is made. Your local Dept of Children, Family & Social Services can help answer some of your questions and put you in touch with other state/federal agencies and non profit organizations offering reduced legal aid to low-income families. Good luck.

As I said, EMERGENCY HEARING.