Asking for NO overnights

[4imprints]

Has anyone been successful with this? We go to court this week to try to get child support and visitation worked out. He is trying to get away with not paying my anything towards tuition or medical bills (two of our three kids are SN). I'm asking for daytime visitation every other weekend. He has a history of drug abuse, very bad friends, car accidents he admitted were a result of his drug abuse, never ever involved with the kids before, has no clue how to handle my son's SN though they are not life threatening, has never ever watched all three of them for longer than it takes me to go to the grocery store and even then I was getting phone calls to hurry up, the one time he watched them in the evening for me to go off with friends he was gonewhen I got home at 12 and his mother was at the house (apparently he couldn't handle the crying). Our yongest is 14 months and very attached to nursing - rarely goes to sleep without nursing and still cosleeps as does my 3 year old. He makes bad decisions such as not locking the doors that my minimally verbal very sneaking three year old can get out of and into the street. Has fallen asleep and been impossible to wake up in the middle of the day when he was suppose to be watching the kids etc etc etc etc.

Do I have a shot? Or are the courst really as anti mom as I've heard?

[mama41]

Sara, you really need to talk to your lawyer about this. Much of this is going to depend on local standards and your state's laws.
In general, nursing past a year isn't given much respect and may count against you. (That varies, though.) Cosleeping, same. Drug abuse, if documented, maybe. Car accident, if documented the cause is drug abuse, maybe. Lack of involvement, maybe. Friends, they won't care unless the friends are cooking up meth in the kitchen. Around here the fact that he's never been involved and can't be counted on to watch them would be meaningful.
The big thing's going to be the court's sensitivity to SN and the kind of SN you're talking about. Again, you need valid documentation or it may as well not exist.

Ask your lawyer whether you should even mention the ebf or co-sleeping. I'm guessing no.