Legal Question in Family Law in Alabama

My granddaughter was conceived when my daughter was 18 and the father was 19, they were just kids themselves. The father terminated his parental rights and my daughter married an older man a couple of years later. At his insistence they did not go through a formal adoption process, they merely went to the health department and added his name to the birth certificate. 2 months after the fact he chose to NOT have the responsibility of being married with children and left. He has been paying child support on my granddaughter but a petition to increase the child support has been countered with a petition for custody. Is it possible that he gets custody of this child? The biological father wants to step back in now that they have grown up and realized what he actually did.. but is it too late? Thanks for any advice you can give.


Asked on 12/03/11, 4:43 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Leon Storie Leon Storie, Attorney at Law

Wow. That's sort of a mess. I'm not altogether sure why he was ordered to pay child support to begin with if he didn't actually adopt the child. Without an adoption, he, as step-parent, has no rights nor obligations to the child. Adding the name to the birth certificate is not the same thing as an adoption. With that said, I don't believe he has standing to claim custody in DR or CS case; however, he could file a dependency in juvenile court and be considered a possible placement, but in my experience, if there are dependency issues and there are viable family alternatives, they would have priority. In some circumstances, a non-relative with bonds to the child could be considered as a placement in order to avoid DHR placement.

As for the terminated dad, he's out. Any contact he has with the child is completely voluntary on the part of the mother or other custodian.

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Answered on 12/08/11, 11:15 am


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