Legal Question in Family Law in New Mexico

Re: shared custody

You don't say if you were married or not. If the child is born within 300 days of the termination of your marriage your ex is presumed to be the father. You could go back to the court that dissolved the marriage and get a parenting plan to submit to the court to add to the marriage settlement. A parenting plan will set up custody, visitation, and child support.

If the child is born more than 300 days after the divorce, or you were never maried, there are several ways to establish paternity. Easiest is to have him put his name on the birth certificate. Then you can go to court and get a judgment of paternity that can include a parenting plan just as set out above.

You should know that the courts frown on 50-50 residence arrangements for very young children, but you can get joint custody with primary physical custody with one of you and liberal visitation.

Whatever you do get an order from the court formalizing the arrangement and establishing a child support schedule as soon as possible. If you do this now you'll save yourself a world of hurt later.