is she a bad parent?
if not, unfortunately, 9 times out of 10, the judge will side with the mother. the couple that my fiance used to nanny for, they had shared custody (SPLIT COMPLETELY DOWN THE MIDDLE.....) the father would have them one week, then the mother would have them the next... ALL WEEK
ya, he's still paying out the ass in child support even though IMO there should be absoltely no child support since all custody is split down the middle.
good luck man... the courts in my opinion are really screwed up.