So let me get this straight.
A. Since birth I have established paternity, made regular child support payments for my child but I still have zero rights as a father?
B. While I do not have a court ordered visitation schedule, I had previously appeared in court to establish one. Neither one of us currently have custody or visitation set on paper. Does that mean that by default mom has been awarded custody because my daughter came from her?
C. Am I to assume that in our upcoming custody and visitation hearing that what I have been to for my daughter from birth till now will carry no weight as I have never had the court establish visitation for me?
D. While I understand that mom can deny me visits from now until eternity until I have a court order stating I can see my daughter will her doing so be seen as the norm if we had previously stated in our last custody and visitation hearing that we would handle visits outside of court. It would seem to me that mom has already told the court that she would make a good faith effort to facilitate a relationship between my daughter and I and theres evidence of the contrary.
The end game for me in all of this is that I would like joint custody where visitation is as close to equal as feasible. We could alternate holidays and birthdays and i would like a stretch in the summer where my daughter could stay with me for a few weeks at a time. Furthermore I would like to request that the court require notification if my child is going to cross state lines whether if its for a vacation or a relocation. My regular days off from work rotate weekly as such;
week 1 MON, TUES week 3 WED, THURS week 5 FRI, SAT, SUN
week 2 TUES, WED week 4 THURS, FRI week 6 SAT, SUN, MON
After week six the rotation resets. Mom has set weekends off. Thus far I have been able to see my daughter every week on my regular days off (RDO), picking her up on the morning of first day off and returning her on my first day back to work. ALL I WOULD BE ASKING TO COURT IS TO MAINTAIN THIS ROUTINE. If I was feeling lucky I'd request one day before my RDO's, giving me 3 days on most weeks and 4 days on my three day weekends from work. I have every intention on following moms parenting plan and living up to my responsibilities as far as pick up and drop off from school is considered. IS THIS STILL CONSIDERED UNREASONABLE?