Legal Question in Family Law in California

Your rights as far as the baby are exactly the same as if you were married. The only difference is paternity is not automatically legally confirmed. If you signed the state forms at the hospital, called a declaration of paternity, then that iscovered. If not, one of you will need to file a parentage action. Then, either on its own if paternity is established, or as part of the parentage action, you file a motion with the court to establish custody and support. From there, everything is exactly the same as a divorcing couple.

Chances are very good that for a child this age he would only get brief visitation. As the child gets older, however, the courts usually agree with the child development experts that say frequent and regular time with each parent is best for kids.

Income has no effect on child custody. Child support is there to even that playing field. Unfortunately if he cannot work more, you might eventually wind up paying him some child support when the child is older and spends more time with him. If he is capable of work, however, and is just choosing not to work, the court will order him to find full time work.

As for his medication, you are right that that is a significant issue in child custody. You have a good case that at least until the child is significantly older he should not have any overnight visitations or any other time when he might be sleeping due to his medication.