Daughter's father recently filed lawsuit

[greenfrog268]

My daughter's father and I were never married and the relationship ended with him moving out two weeks prior to our daughter's 4th birthday. She is now 12 soon to be 13. His paternity had never been established as he did not sign her birth cert, I never sued for child support, and we have not submitted any paperwork to the court or clerk that recognizes him as her father. During the past 8 years he has had access to her but I had stopped any visits involving him taking her out in his car due to an ongoing issue with alcohol. Many are the times when I smelled alcohol on him, saw him drinking, and heard our daughter admit that he had been drinking when he had previously been allowed to take her to his girlfriend's home. To make matters worse there was one time were the local police became involved because he was refusing to return her back to my home. I had strong suspicions that he had been drinking and sure enough: 1. My ex was the driver of the car, 2. Our daughter was a passenger in that car, 3. The officer noted alcohol on the ex's breath, 4. Officer chose not to make an arrest but instead to have one of the other passengers in the car take over driving. Needless to say I spoke with the Internal Affairs division of that officers department. I did not win my case but I have the record of the interview in which the officer admits all of what I have enumerated above.
My ex had initially come to Florida from New York to enter into a sober living facility to deal with a heroin addiction. He never completed his course of treatment, he chose to leave the sober house and has since been a regular consumer of alcohol. He does not see why I'm concerned and states that "It's only beer, what's your problem?" His idea of sobriety differs greatly from the prevailing professional stance of total abstinence being necessary for any addict regardless of drug of choice. Due to HIPPA law I cannot obtain proof of his stay at the sober house facility and from what I've been told too many people have falsly accused their ex of substance abuse and now the overall thinking amongst the judges is that if you can't prove substance abuse (the police report and my direct observations won't count for much) the court will most likely not consider it a factor. I am very concerned that if he is given what he is asking for in the petition that our child will be put in harms way. I've already asked the court to appoint a guardian ad litem and in my Answer to his petition, I filed a safety focused parenting plan asking for supervised visitation at least initially leaving it open to renegotiation as time goes on.
So I guess my question is, how can I get the court to hear my concerns?
One other question if I may, he has also stated in his petition that he wishes me to pay him child support. Custody of our daughter has been mine since our split. I have paid all of her expenses, he has only sporadically offered a few dollars here and there over the past eight years. In my Answer to his petition I did not ask the court to award me child support. The questions here are what are the odds that the judge would award child support to me considering I haven't asked for it? Would it be a waste of money to file a separate petition asking for child support considering the already open and pending case? What are the chances I would have to pay him?
THank you for reading this post.

[Attorney Cheri Hobbs]

If substance abuse is a concern in your case you can Motion the court to have your ex get a substance abuse evaluation and follow any recommended treatment. When the court orders a time sharing plan the court will also order a child support figure. You will need to request that the court award child support arrears (they will only go back a couple of years from date of petition).