Legal Question in Family Law in Arizona
Termination of Parental Rights
I have two children. One daughter has not seen her father since she was 1 yr old and is now 7 yrs old. He is ordered to pay child support. He does once in awhile and is now over $22,000 behind. I have no contact with him. I do know where he lives, I found him on the AZ sex offenders website. My other daughter is 5 and her father has not seen her since she was 3 months old. He pays no child support. I tried to get a court order 3 times but it was thrown out/lost/etc. I tried to do it myself and I think I did the paperwork wrong. Last contact I had with her father was when he and his new wife called and harrassed me about 4 years ago. I don't know where he lives. My boyfriend whom I am marrying soon wants to adopt my children. I would like to know what I would have to do to accomplish this. Is there such thing as abandonment? What do I do if I cannot contact their fathers? If my boyfriend does adopt my girls can I still collect the back support from my ex?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Termination of Parental Rights
Thank you for your inquiry. Although the facts of each of your situations is different, the law is the same.
You can file for termination of parental rights if you can show that the father has abandoned the child. Abandonment is the failure to maintain contact or support for at least 6 months before you file. Terminating the rights does not prevent you from collecting on the child support that you are already owed, but if your kids will be adopted, the father's child support obligation will most likely be stopped when his rights are terminated.
Procedurally, the petition must be filed with the juvenile court and the father must be served. You said that you know the location of one of the fathers, so this shouldn't be a problem. You will have to make an effort to serve the other father even if you don't know where he is now. You can try his last know address, or possibly contacting relatives, or even doing a public records search. If your "diligent" efforts are unsuccessful, the court can grant you the right to serve him by publication in a newspaper. You will also have to get a severance study and report from an adoption agency. The cost varies.
Once the fathers' rights are legally terminated, the adoption can be handled for free by the County Attorney's office. You will still have to pay for an adoption study by an agency (usually the same agency that handles the severance study).
There are obviously other factors that may affect your specific case(s). If you'd like to discuss this matter further, please feel free to contact me at (480) 792-9770. I charge $60 for a 60-minute initial consultation.
Sincerely,
Monica H. Donaldson
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