Legal Question in Family Law in New Mexico

You don't say whether you're married. Here's a list of things that have to be dealt with:

marital status - if married, get a divorce and with it a custody and child support order.

If you're not married you need a paternity action to get a determination that he is the father, then a custody hearing and a child support hearing.

The courts' default custody arrangement is joint custody with physical custody for younger children predominately in one or the other parent. To get away from that you need agreement form the other parent or to convince the court that the other parent is not fit to care for the child at some level. The court will then decide what kind of visitation or other arrangements to impose, such as weekend visits, one night a week, supervised visits (when parent is dangerous), etc.

It's usually best to hire an attorney if you can afford it (or if the father can be hooked by the court to pay). Depending on what county you live in, there are forms at the District Courthouse you can get. If the're not at the courthouse you can find them online, go to http://www.nmcourts.gov/cgi/prose_lib/ . You could try to get help from Legal Aid (505 243-7871) or Law Access New Mexico (998-4529 | 1-800-340-9771). There are legal fairs held around the state where you can talk to attorneys. The state bar has a program where you can talk to an attorney for $35 for a half hour 505 797-6066 | 1-800-876-6227.

You can start the paternity action on the second child before it's born, so if you're not married do that.

Good luck, and take care of those kids.