child schedule

[curious dad]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? WA State
I am the father of a 4yr old girl. Her mom and I were never married and we dont have any legal parenting plan in place. We agreed to do the following schedule.. every other tues - sat morn for me and sat morn to every other tues for the mom. When my daughter starts school is this schedule still ok to use, or do courts usually advice not splitting up the school week. If change needs to be made and I have her the majority of the week already would it be crazy for me to ask for mon- fri or does the mom have more rights to decide what days she should have?

 

[Proserpina]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? WA State
I am the father of a 4yr old girl. Her mom and I were neer married and we dont have any legal parenting plan in place. We agreed to do the following schedule.. every other tues - sat morn for me and sat morn to every other tues for the mom. When my daughter starts school is this schedule still ok to use, or do courts usually advice not splitting up the school week. If change needs to be made and I have her the majority of the week already would it be crazy for me to ask for mon- fri or does the mom have more rights to decide what days she should have?

Are you legally established as Dad?

 

[curious dad]

Are you legally established as Dad?

Im not sure if there is any special thing I needed to do but I am on the birth certificate and paternity test is all that I have done. Im also paying child support.

 

[Proserpina]

Im not sure if there is any special thing I needed to do but I am on the birth certificate and paternity test is all that I have done. Im also paying child support.

Is it court ordered child support? Was it a court-ordered paternity test?

It may be moot at this point - what you really need to do is go to court and have visitation set up that way; it protects all three of you. If you think the current agreement will work once she's in school, by all means the two of you can submit that to the court.

But the short answer to the question would be: No, WA courts do NOT favor split-week visitation arrangements if kiddo is in school. But they will, assuming the parents live close enough together, sometimes approve an agreement if both parents are on the same page.

Mom will have no more rights than you simply because she's Mom; if Mom has more rights than you at all it's because yours haven't yet been established.

 

[curious dad]

The courted ordered child support but not the test.. We had small conversations about what the schedule would be once schools start, week to week as an option but she doesnt like that one but maybe thinking about it. Is there anything I can do now to help me in the future if she tries make a schedule where I only have my daughter on weekends?

 

[babykitty]

Is there anything I can do now to help me in the future if she tries make a schedule where I only have my daughter on weekends?

Yes. Go to a mediator or concillation for the court. If you two reach an agreement with the mediator about visitation it can become an order for the judge to sign. Request joint legal and physical custody. Without a legal document she can always take you to court to have your visitation reduced and request sole physical custody.

 

[notoversteppin]

Without a legal document she can always take you to court to have your visitation reduced and request sole physical custody.

She will always have the option to go back to court to have visitation reduced and request sole custody. Doesn't mean she'll win but the option is still there.

 

[curious dad]

Thanks for all the answers!!!!!.. I will start looking for those procedures today. Ive always been scared to do anything legal in fear of losing half the time I have with my daughter. I guess all the bad stories about fathers and custody cases scared me.

 

[Proserpina]

Thanks for all the answers!!!!!.. I will start looking for those procedures today. Ive always been scared to do anything legal in fear of losing half the time I have with my daughter. I guess all the bad stories about fathers and custody cases scared me.

It is HIGHLY unlikely that Mom will be able to get sole legal OR physical custody in WA state.

(at least not without a very compelling reason to do so)

 

[curious dad]

Really!?, Ive always hear WA State was a womans state. I know this is a custody thread but if it comes out that we get 50/50 custody would the child support order change also? I dont mind paying, Im proud to say I take care of my daughter every way that I can but Im just curious if it would change.

 

[Proserpina]

Really!?, Ive always hear WA State was a womans state. I know this is a custody thread but if it comes out that we get 50/50 custody would the child support order change also? I dont mind paying, Im proud to say I take care of my daughter every way that I can but Im just curious if it would change.

WA state traditionally is NOT fond of giving sole custody to either parent - it's less about gender than it is about ensuring BOTH parents have equal rights and responsibilities where the child is concerned.

It's actually a good idea to keep all of your questions in this one thread - it's much less confusing for us that way

Joint physical custody, if it's viable, might alter the child support payments but there are other factors used in the state guidelines which would also factor in. Bear in mind that 50/50 does not necessarily indicate a 50/50 timeshare. What is more common is joint legal custody with one parent being the primary physical custodian.

Plug your numbers in here, play around with the variables and it might give you a better idea.

http://www.courts.wa.gov/ssgen/default.aspx

 

[curious dad]

I have a copy of the birth certificate and paternity affidavit, is this enough to legally establish me as the dad or is there something else I need. I also spoke with the mom about a parenting plan schedule and we cant come to an agreement about when our daughter starts school, so looks like it will be in some one elses hands to decide.
Another issue was tax, I asked if we could rotate years for filing. Her response was yes but I will have you child support raised if we do that. After doing the WA State child support calculator I recieved to diff results. The fisrt one is while my daughter is still in daycare, it came out that the min. payment is $314 a month because her mom pays more of the daycare than I do. The second result was minus the daycare when she starts school, it came out that the mom would owe $360 a month. I guess from the difference in incomes. I know other variables factor in such as court order to pay, who is said to be our daughters primary physical custodian. I dont know if she is trying to keep me from going forward with legal action or if she files for a raise in child support she will she have a good chance. The order now is $150 a month. At the time she didnt work, she stayed at home while finishing school and I worked but my income wasnt enough to support us. Once she started getting help from the state (TANF,I think its called) and we were not married thats when the order from child support came in. Now she makes over $60,000yr, Im at $28,000 while tryin to finish school. I asked DHCS should I try to get it lowered but they said it wasnt a good idea beccause of our combined income the rate would go up to $300 something. Im kinda of confused at this point, if I try to get a legal parenting plan thats not her way she is gonna have child support raised. If I dont pursue and legal plan then technically there isnt "rules" she has to follow when it comes to me spending time with my daughter.