Legal Question in Family Law in Arizona
How to notify birth father of step parent adoption when his whereabouts are unkn
I need to know what the state of AZ requires for notification of a step parent adoption to the birth father when his where abouts are unknown. If notification is made in a newspaper, where does the State require the ad be run,for how long and is there a specific format the the ad needs to follow to be legally accepted by the courts.
Thank you for your help.
PS There is a chance the birth father is living in Mexico at the present time. The boy I want to adopt is my new wifes son,he was born in Los Angeles, CA. in 1995. The mother says that California was the last place she saw the boys birth father, but does not know where he is now. He may very well have moved back to Mexico where he is from. The birth father has never had any contact with his son and never supplied any support either.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: How to notify birth father of step parent adoption when his whereabouts are
Check your state's Rules of Civil Procedure for service of process (here it's Rule 4). It will tell you whether service by publication is allowed in your state, what you need to do, etc. Here, you first need to show "due diligence" in trying to serve bio dad or in trying to locate him, but he cannot be found, then move the court for permission to serve by publication. Then you publish in the paper where the action is filed, once a week for three weeks, in a specific format.
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