My question involves child support in the State of: California
I was never married to my daughters father and we were never in a relationship longer than a month. We never lived together and we live in different counties. I only make $2080.00 per month gross and he makes roughly $7800 gross as a firefighter/medic in San Bernardino. She is primarily with me and he sees her at the most 10 days a month but realistically its more like 5-7. I have to have her in preschool (because day care cost is the same and she learns more in a set curriculum) 2-3 days a week because of work and when she is there he is working also. The cost is $400-$600 per month depending on his schedule. I have asked him plenty of times to come up with a reasonable fair amount to keep the courts out of it but his idea of fair is having his mother watch her (live with her) in Pomona which is 1.5 hours away from me while he is working which is 5+days a week. Now we do not have a legal order but I have been told that I am the legal custodial parent since we were never married or lived together. He did sign the paternity paperwork and his name is on the birth certificate so do I need to file for custody before pursuing child support?

