Legal Question in Family Law in Arizona
Getting full rights
My fiancee has been divorced for four years. She has full custody of the two boys. In the divorce decree exhusband has supervised visits and has to pay childsupport. He has never payed a dime of support and does not do the visitations. Last year one of the boys ways diagnosed with a brain tumor. Ex husband took us to court,so he could see the boy. At the time he had a order of protection against him. Because he was showing up to our house unannounced. Judge told him he could have one supervised visit at the hospital for 30 min and would have to do supervise visits through an organization if he wanted to see the boys again. He visited the hospital for 15min. Have not heard from him in over a year. He found out the boy was back in the hospital recently and attempted to visit.What I want to know can all of his visitation and parental rights be taken away. He owes over 40 thousand dollars in childsupport and has never attempted to do the supervised visits. He has never played the father role in their lives. The oldest boy is nine and does not want anything to do with him and the other boy is seven and really does not have any memory of him.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Getting full rights
You have an excellent case for a "Termination of Parental Rights". Under Arizona law, 6 months of no contact and no support is considered abandonment, and is cause for a termination.
Please contact me directly if you would like to discuss this process in more detail.
Rich J. Peters, Attorney.
Alos, see our website for more information.
www.familylawaz.com
Re: Getting full rights
In certain circumstances, one parent can seek to terminate the parental rights of a parent who has legally abandoned a child. Failure to maintain contact and failure to support are some of the factors relevant in determining whether abandonment has occurred.
You may also want to consider whether, if father's rights are severed, you are willing to adopt the children when you marry.
To discuss this further, please contact me directly at (480) 732-9200 or via email at [email protected].
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