Hi

After spending the last five years divorcing my wife I have to say that you are going to come up against a few obstacles. Especially if you are trying to gain custody of your child. Generally speaking, if the child is already living with the mother then they will see no reason to change this unless there is evidence that the child is not being well looked after. Also, once you both have lawyers then they will spend a great deal of time sending bills to you without too much to show for it.

This is not going to be an easy time for you and I wish you the best of luck. Make sure that you have as many friends and family members to support you as is possible.

No matter how hard it may be, your best first move may be to try and get back on speaking terms with your wife. Try to get her to see things from your side and to become more reasonable. If you manage this then you may be able to come to some arrangement for 50% custody. But if you go directly to court with accusations of abuse and no evidence then they are unlikely to be helpful.

Go and see a lawyer. Initially just to get them to clue you up on the problems that you will encounter and to find out what your worse-case scenario is. It will open your eyes a little and you need to be prepared for that.

Again, good luck and I wish you all the best.