Legal Question in Family Law in California

What is the right way to represent my case in front of a judge to prove the father lacks interest in the child? Here is the history of my case. In April 2007, a paternity case was filed. In May 2007, mediation was needed to set a parenting plan. In June 2007, a paternity test was taken, and he is the biological father. Everything seemed okay then. He seemed really interested in her. We were suppose to alternate travel from our town to his, once a month (e.g. first month ours, next month his, third, month ours... and so forth). As the first four months were done according to plan, then more time was allowed for visitation between the bio father and daughter, and so forth. We had traveled during the first four months as we were suppose to. He did not come down as he was suppose to. I sent him a certified letter stating we were unable to travel back to his town due to a job loss. He did not call nor come down to see her until 6 months. During this visit, he was down in our town, or only an hour away. He was visiting family. He had asked if he could visit with our daughter. I only asked that he did not come late. She has a set schedule and I personally like to keep things stable and organized for her. He arrived and hour before her bedtime. I later found out that he went to the zoo with his family, and did not offer to take along our daughter. From there, we had not heard from him until her birthday which was 7 months from the last visit. He had called to talk to me about coming in for his nephew�s birthday which was 3 months away. We went to his town for the party. The bio father did not take any time off while our daughter was in town. He complained that he was tired and needed sleep. Our first night there he visited with our daughter for 4 hours, the next day was a party, which was very overwhelming and tiring, as 2 hours in the party our daughter told me she was ready to go home. From that visit, she had not heard from him since then and that was about 9 months ago. Also in our parenting plan virtual visitation was part of the visitation, but not once had he exercised that to see her. I'm planning to move out of state, and he is opposing the move. I had filed papers to modify custody, visitation, and support. As he has not paid all his support from 2007, he is current at the moment for paying the base child support, but has not paid me any of the additional mandatory support such as day care expenses. We recently had mediation. Where again, I explained what the visitation is suppose to be, and how it has been. The bio father's reasoning why he is opposing the move is he cannot financial afford nor get the time off of work to see her where she lives now, what makes me, the mother, think he can afford or get the time off to where we are moving to which is across the country. We did not come up with a plan. I received the mediators report, and he states "It seems clear that even being in the same state does not help facilitate visits between the child and the father who has rarely visited the child because of work and financial difficulties. The undersigned sees no compelling reason to recommend again the mother's proposed move...The father may not be able to afford such a trip no matter what the notice..." The mediator made recommendations that I do not think are appropriate, as the mediator seems we should share legal custody. I already have sole legal custody and do not want to lose that. The bio father already has stated himself he is hard to communicate with through an email, why would I want to share legal custody if he stated that. He also made it apparent to the mediator and me, that he coming down for court would be unpaid vacation. To me, I understand this as, he gets paid vacation, if he did, and where did he go, because he didn�t visit with his daughter. Also I know he has two consecutive days off in a week. People who I have spoken with say I will win. But I want to make sure I approach this in the correct way. As I have represented myself from the beginning of the case. The bio father has never once filed papers. I have never received and IED from him. He lives with his sister and her family which is just her husband and their son. He does have a car that he bought in 2006, and a cell phone. So those are the only known expenses I know he has. He works as an assistant manager at a chain of retail stores. He stated in front of the judge that he only is scheduled to work 38.5 hours. I was doing some research and found out that assistant managers for the retail store he works at are asked to work 44 hours and have 1 week paid vacation the first year and 2 week paid vacation for 2 years of employment. Is there way to have the judge request his IED or get what his income is from his work and other information regarding holidays, vacations, etc? I saw a form FL-396, which is Request for Production of an Income and Expense Declaration After Judgment, I thought I did that correctly, which I sent certified mail to him. Is that form supposed to be served to him? There is also the form FL-397 Request for Income and Benefit Information From Employer, which can be used. Any help with these forms will be great. As I said before I�m trying to prove that there is a lack of interest. I believe if she really mattered that much to him, there would be a way to make it happen. The saying �if there is a will, there is a way�. And to me �financial difficulties� is just an excuse. I�m not making major money here, I have to work 2 jobs, so �my daughter� and I can have insurance, and extra money to do a few things. We do not own much. But between her and me we have a lot of love and happiness. My daughter has always been my number one priority. If anyone can help, with how I should represent my case, or ways I can prove financial difficulties is just an excuse, I would be delighted.

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