My [23M] ex(?) parent in laws [late 40sMF] are threatening to fight me for custody over my daughter [18monthsF] because my girlfriend passed away

This may be very long and confusing but I will do my best to keep everything straight and as coherent as possible.

My girlfriend [21F] and I met in middle school and have been friends for 10 years, and together for going on 5. She was my soulmate and it's impossible for me to talk about her without crying still. She became pregnant with our daughter during a difficult time where we were both in between jobs and fighting often. When we found out she was pregnant I really buckled down and found a decent warehouse job that paid enough for us to get an apartment (we had previously been living with her parents) and prepare for the baby. During her pregnancy things were amazing, we got along so well and it was one of the happiest times of my life. And when out daughter was born it got even better. Sure we were young parents, but it's like Leah was born to be a mom, watching her with our daughter was amazing. For 13 months, things were perfect. On April 5th, though, Leah was involved in a car accident while she was going with her cousin to her cousin's bridal shower. Her cousin lived and is now fine, but my girlfriend did not make it. When i heard the news it's like my entire world went black. I felt and still feel like my heart was ripped out of my body and there's absolutely no way to put it back in. I still expect to wake up to her face and every morning that I don't absolutely crushes me inside. My daughter looks exactly like her and most of the time looking at her is bittersweet because I know my girlfriend lives on in her, but sometimes it's hard because a part of me feels like she's a reminder of what we both lost. I hope that doesnt sound like I resent my daughter, because she's my everything. But it's still very hard and I think it always will be.

On to the problem I'm facing now. Right now, I have custody of my daughter. I downsized to a studio apartment because I couldn't stay in Leah and I's place anymore and for now, this is enough for us two. My parents offered to take us in, but my mom is constantly telling me to "open up" and right now that's not what I want to focus on. For now I want to focus on work and raising my daughter. Working helps distract me a bit from what happened. I feel like if we moved back in with my family i would constantly be harassed to open up and talk about how I feel. So for now it's just me and the baby, and we've been doing well. Either my mom or Leah's mom will watch her while I work, which I greatly appreciate. But lately Leah's mom and dad have been acting differently about watching her. For the past 2 months, her mom would drop hints that their family would be more than happy to watch daughter for longer periods of time and would constantly bring up how much daughter loved being there and how much happier she seemed when she was there. Then, it went from dropping hints to outright telling me that I'm too young to take care of her properly, I'm too inexperienced. Once I dropped her off at their house for them to watch her and her hair wasn't exactly done, just combed through, which is all I really know how to do besides ponytails or buns and my girlfriends mom commented on how if I cant even do the baby's hair, what else must I be slacking on? That absolutely broke my heart.

Last weekend, when I went to pick my daughter up from their house, my girlfriends parents sat me down and told me that I was unfit to parent my daughter, that she deserved to have both parents (that really stung. I still feel like it's my fault that Leah is gone.) And that they would be using their grandparents rights to go after custody for my daughter. I didnt even know grandparents rights was a thing. I just took my daughter and left, and when I got home and put her to bed I cried harder than I had in months. I've already lost the love of my life and I dont want to lose my daughter, too. I don't know what to do, or how to fight this. I'm doing my best to keep things held together, but it's like my life is falling apart and theres nothing I can do about it.

Tl;dr: after my girlfriend passed in April, my parents in law have been watching my daughter while I go to work. Now they want to go after me for custody of her because they think I cant care for her properly. I dont know what to do, how to fight this and how to get them to leave me alone. I cant lose my daughter.

Submitted October 02, 2018 at 03:10PM by tsuiney8 https://ift.tt/2RiIEhD