Legal Question in Family Law in Indiana

Re: Avoiding support

When the parties aren't married, in Indiana, the mother is the presumed legal and physical custodian of the child. He can rebut that presumption by showing that you're unfit, have abandoned the child, etc.

It's a tough presumption to overcome.

The court will most likely see through is little ploy -- he didn't request custody until you requested support.

The prosecutor's office is correct. They deal only with child support issues, not child custody issues.

You can pursue your own legal action -- or you can hire an attorney to represent your interests.

Best of luck to you!

Re: Avoiding support

The prosecutor will only deal with the support issue. The reason being that as a state and county office it is only concerned that support is there to avoid you asking for public assistance.

The father's claim for custody must be supported. If there exsits some real issue regarding your conduct such as exposing the child to harmful activity, the father's demand for custody may receive serious consideration. This conduct could be criminal activity including but not limited to addictions. Another consideration may be if the child's health is great jeporady.

In short, you may really want to consider retaining a private attorney. Unless you're well versed on the subject, do it. You really don't want to rely on a person or system that views your case as just one more on an assembly line of many.