father trying to take daughter after 4 years of minimal contact

[Hmommy04]

Hi- my husband and i have been seperated for over 4 years. During this time our child has lived with me. We mutually agreed on this and have no written agreement. We do have a child support agreement through domestic relations that comes out of his check weekly. Because of the way he works his mother picks up our child when he is supposed to and then he can get the child from her. However this usually does not happen. He never picks her up from his mom and rarely visits her there. She sometimes goes a month or 2 without seeing him but i continue the visits anyway just so she has that contact with the other side of her family. Recently he has gotten a new girlfriend with kids of her own and decided that he would like to have her full weeks every other week at a time. She barely knows him and doesnt know the new gf at all ( she would spend most of her time there with her as he works third shift and sleeps in the afternoons). I dont have a lot of money for attorney fees whereas he does. He has threatened to just take her from me or take her out of school and keep her. The school says unless they have a written agreement signed by the courts there is nothing they can do to stop him and the police say that they cant force him to give her back if he does do that. School starts soon and i am in panic mode. What are the chances of him winning? What would be my best course of action?

 

[army judge]

Hi- my husband and i have been seperated for over 4 years. During this time our child has lived with me. We mutually agreed on this and have no written agreement. We do have a child support agreement through domestic relations that comes out of his check weekly. Because of the way he works his mother picks up our child when he is supposed to and then he can get the child from her. However this usually does not happen. He never picks her up from his mom and rarely visits her there. She sometimes goes a month or 2 without seeing him but i continue the visits anyway just so she has that contact with the other side of her family. Recently he has gotten a new girlfriend with kids of her own and decided that he would like to have her full weeks every other week at a time. She barely knows him and doesnt know the new gf at all ( she would spend most of her time there with her as he works third shift and sleeps in the afternoons). I dont have a lot of money for attorney fees whereas he does. He has threatened to just take her from me or take her out of school and keep her. The school says unless they have a written agreement signed by the courts there is nothing they can do to stop him and the police say that they cant force him to give her back if he does do that. School starts soon and i am in panic mode. What are the chances of him winning? What would be my best course of action?

If he gets a lawyer and you don't have one, his chances are very good.
Yours would be very poor.
Get a lawyer.
Contact legal aid or a nearby law school.
Sometimes law schools have legal clinics and the students will help you.
The students work under the supervision of licensed lawyers.
Contact legal aid ASAP, or a look for a nearby law school legal clinic.
Do something, before he does!