Legal Question in Family Law in Michigan

I have been a single mother my son's whole life. He is 7.5 and his father has never helped me with a single thing, and has never cared about his well being. His dad went to prison about 5 yrs ago. He is getting out of prison within the next month or so. He is a very bad example for my child- his actions and language. I don't want to let my son see him. He has been threatening to take him from me when he gets out. I am curious, what are the chances of him getting full or even joint custody? I would suggest supervised visits if anything. I definately don't want them together alone!! But I don't know how to fight him on this. If he pays child support, does that automatically mean that he will get visitation? How do I not allow this?


Asked on 6/24/11, 3:16 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
William Stern William Stern, P.C.

A father who has ben absent for a child's entire 7.5 year life has zero chance of getting custody. Depending what he was in prison for, you may be successful in limiting visitation to supervised. The child support is a separate issue than visitation. However, if I were you, and he will probably disappear some more if you don't push for support, I'd leave it alone. If he starts bothering you for visitation, go after him for support and try to get the judge to impute income to him so that he has to pay support in accordance with what he should be making, as opposed to what he actually makes. Then, enforce that. He may wind up back in the slammer for failing to pay support once you get an order requiring him to pay support.

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Answered on 6/25/11, 5:58 am


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