i eacently broke up with my boyfriend and we have a 13 month old daughter. i want to make sure that i have custody and also try to get everything legalized. how do i go about this?
Go to the court house in Port Orchard and tell them you want to establish paternity for your child and they will send you to the appropriate office. The Prosecutor's office will then file a Petition for paternity on your behalf and track down the Father to establish a support order. Down side is that they weil not establish a parenting plan for you, you need to do that privately by filing a Peittion to establish a residential schedule.
A less complicated procedure would be simply to hire local counsel to do everything for you, but you will have to put down a preety good retainer -- I usually require $1500 up front if Dad won't fight for custody, and $2500 if there is going to be a custody dispute.
