File for custody and support and supervised visitation or no visitation at all. Your ex will come back demanding visitation at which time you have to argue why visitation with the child is not in the child's best interests. If the argument has any validity, the judge will either order court supervised visitations or none at all until the ex completes a series of testing and interviews with CPS.

I know most courts frown on a custodial parent's failure to file for support. Is it needed? If not, you'll want to balance the value of the current situation -- where peace reigns and the father you consider to be a toxic presence is not a presence-- against the vaue of the support.

Listen. It's not about you. It's about your son. The courts will see it that way too. If you can prove that the dad is a bad influence on your son, then they will require supervised visits. Visits and Child Support are not in the same category. Child Support is required regardless. Visits are expected regardless. It's not about you visiting. It's about your son visiting. Your son's relationship with this man is entirely different than YOUR relationship with this man. Also, if the man has not seen his son for some time, the courts will claim "child abandonment" and require Supervised Visits but in no circumstance, ever withhold your son from visits because that's against the law and will make you lose custody. Hope this helps.

In most cases, if you file for child support, the court will grant the father legal visitation rights. It is his right as the father. Unless you can prove that the father is a danger to the child, and this is difficult to do. You have to decide, but remember that he is still the child's father and has legal rights to see the child, even if he is not ordered to pay child support. Basically, it doesn't matter who has legal custody of the child, the natural father has every legal right to see the child. Now if the court orders the father to pay child support and he doesn't comply with the order, you can deny the father visitation rights until he takes you back to court.