Legal Question in Family Law in California
How to voluntarily give up parental rights
I have a situation where the father of my 3-1/2 year old son wants me to look into giving up his rights. I will admit that this idea is in his head because everytime he complains about having to pay child support or pay for our sons insurance, or paying for half of medical bills or childcare I basically tell him ''go away then. Take your child support, your insurance and go away. Give up your rights'' He told me last week that maybe he will have to be the bad guy and do that then or else he will not have any money until our son is 18 years old. He has visitation is every other weekend and one night during the week everyother week. He sporadically takes advantage of the every other weekend visitation. He does pay court calculated & ordered child support because it is garnished from his paycheck.
What do I need to do to start this action, or at least get paperwork to present to him and say this is what you need to do if you truly want to give up your rights.
Thank you in advance.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: How to voluntarily give up parental rights
Whether or not a court would allow you to terminate the parental rights of the Father, I think that its a bad idea, unless you are independantly wealthy and have someone else available to be the Daddy. (Which he is not doing a very good job) My suggestion, tell him that you are keeping a calendar of his visits and that in three months you will be returning to court to have child support calculated based upon his actual time with the child. Child support is calculated based upon the time each parent spends with the child as well as their incomes. He may then find the time to spend more time with his son. It is not unusual that when he spends more time with his son he will find out that it is pretty neat to be a Daddy, and he may become one. If not, you will then receive the child support that you should be receiving for the child. You know better than anyone that the support goes for the benefit of the child and that your child deserves to be supported. Good Luck, Pat McCrary
Re: How to voluntarily give up parental rights
In order to terminate rights, voluntarily or not, you have to have an underlying action. If you are married you can have your new husband adopt the child,and voluntarily take the consent (relinquishment of rights) of the father. Or you could have a boyfriend or other relative adopt (father or brother) without you giving up your rights. The state will not let you terminate support for a child unless there is someone else to step in and take responsibility. The only exception is where the child is in danger, physical or emotional, and the state steps in to terminate the rights of a parent. Usually that only happens when the custodial parent is putting the child in danger.
John A. Giffen
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