My boyfriend is having a real issue gaining joint custody of his daughter. He claims his lawyer isn’t the best because if he were, he’d be advocating for him better. I’m looking for some advice as to where to go from here. I want to help him. The judge sees him as just another “dead beat father”. My boyfriend doesn’t see the need to pay child support when he cares for her and buys her things as much as her mother does, if not more. How can he find a “good” lawyer? What should he be doing in the fight for at least joint custody?
Thanks,
Sunshine
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Dear Sunshine,
Your boyfriend’s primary problem is his attitude that he shouldn’t have to pay child support; and any effort to receive joint custody right now is just going to look like an attempt to get around child support.
Whether morally or ethically he “should” have to pay isn’t the issue. The law says he has to pay; in many states even if he had joint or even full custody he might still have to pay child support. And the quickest way to turn a court and judge against you is to inform them that you “shouldn’t have to pay child support.”
Beware thinking your lawyer isn’t advocating for you well just because they aren’t telling you what you want to hear.
Anne