Legal Question in Family Law in California

If you have lived in California for six months or more, the California courts have jurisdiction over you and the child. Therefore anything he would try to do would have to be done here, giving him a disadvantage to begin with. If you have evidence of the domestic violence event(s) such as a contemporanous police report or witnesses, you are as close to a slam-dunk win as you can get in the law. There is an automatic presumption in California law that domestic violence in the past five years disqualifies the person committing the violence from custody. They may get visitation, but not custody. You don't mention how long you have cared for the child alone, but that will also be a factor in your favor. The courts have a preference for stability in the child's home and life, so they are unlikely to disrupt the child by pulling him away from the home he knows. The only real problem is if you have any issues that would make you look unfit in the eyes of the court.

Understand, however, that family law courts in California are "courts of equity." What that means is they have wide discretion to do what they think is right. So the most important thing to do is focus on making it clear to the court that the right thing to do for your son is leave him with you, allow him to have a relationship with his father, but in a protected environment until and unless the father demonstrates he has overcome his anger and violence issues.

Lastly, I am usually a big fan of people doing as much as they can without lawyers, but this case might be one where you would get a lot of benefit out of consulting with an attorney. Many family law attorneys, myself included, offer limited scope representation. What that means is we dont take over (and bill you for) the whole case. Instead, we sit down and divide up the work to be done, letting you do as much as you can and we just consult and do what you can't or don't feel up to doing. Then we put that in the retainer agreement. You save money over hiring an attorney to take the whole case, but you get someone who "has your back."