Hi everyone.

I have been transitioning my daughter back and forth between my ex and I for the last month. Everything was going smooth until Sunday evening when he picked her up. Which was my day but because I was being nice enough to him see her, I agreed to him picking her up. When he picked her up him and I got into an argument and he ended up calling me a piece of shit so I took my daughter out of the car seat and told him if he continued to call me names I would not feel comfortable with him taking out daughter. He got really upset and said to get the fuck out of his car. My daughter was crying so I put her back, she’s 3 years old.

Well that all backfired. It’s now Tuesday and I have not seen my daughter. We agreed she would be dropped off yesterday morning and her dad decided that he wants to keep her from me unless I write and sign a paper stating his rules which to me sound ridiculous. He wants 2 days off, 2 days on. He wants nobody to watch out daughter unless it’s him and I. Now all of a sudden he’s going against my family who have watched our daughter since she was only 6 months. Nothing has ever happened to her. He claims because we live with so many people (Hispanic household) it is unsafe for her yet we live with all family members.

All day yesterday he would call me and tell me if I wanted to see her I would have to agree to his terms. He’s mad I put him in jail for pushing me. He always tries to rub that in my face. Now he has 2 domestic violence records. One From me and his ex wife. At the end of the day he would say I can see her but if I said anything he didn’t like, he would change his mind and say I couldn’t see my daughter after all. For example, he said something to me and I said ok. He didn’t like the way I said ok, so he said he had changed his mind and he didn’t feel safe leaving my daughter with me. I started crying and said I would do anything to see her again but he said unless I agreed to his terms I wouldn’t be able to see her.

So now I’m at court about to file for custody. Full custody. I don’t have much money and I live with family. I don’t pay rent and I don’t have a car. My grandmother helps me to move around at all times as well as my daughter. My question is will this affect me? I’m really scared. He has a lot of power and Knows people. He even has his own lawyer. I don’t have a lawyer but they offer free services here in court. Should I do that or get my own lawyer?

Any help will be greatly appreciated. I’m dealing with a psychopath.

Just for the record, I am 23. My daughter is 3 and my ex is 38.