Legal Question in Family Law in California
My daughters biological father has been MIA for a year and a month. He also has not paid child support for a year and 3 months. I am getting married in December and we want my husband ( the only father my daughter knows) to adopt her. How do we legally go about him adopting her? Also if we (and the court, child support office) don�t know where he is to have him sign his rights over.
2 Answers from Attorneys
A court order terminating the father's rights is required absent consent to a step-parent adoption.
1. As stated, you will have to file for a step-parent adoption such that your new husband may adopt your child.
2. On top of the adoption, you will need to file a Petition to Terminate the Parental Rights of the biological father.
3. You will have to prove to the court that you have gone above and beyond to find the bio-dad. Best would be if you do a "skip trace" of the dad. You can find people online who do this. You may also need to check with relatives, online, voter registrations, etc.
4. Ultimately, the court may allow you to serve the bio-dad by publication, but in order to get that order, you will have to prove to the court that you did everything humanly possible to find the father.
5. I would highly suggest you have a qualified family law and adoption attorney help you with this.
Good luck!
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