Legal Question in Family Law in California

My wife and the father of my son have never been married what rights does he hav

My question is this,

My wife and I are married with a two children and one of the children has another father. We have not been contacted and have not contacted him in the last 8 years, he once had taken us to court for visitation but after about 4 weekends of 4 hours a day he saw his son but after that it just stopped and to this date we have never seen a child support check ordered by the court. I want to adopt my son because I love him very very much and my wife and I think it is time to go forward with this even though I am very nervous about contacting the natural father. I do not know what kind of trouble he can give us, yet I am still very nervous and even scared about the thought of this kind of disruption at my sons age of 13. I want to file for adoption but do not know what to do or how to go about it and was hoping you can give me some insight on this to ease my families minds.

Sincerley,

(wanttobe Father)


Asked on 9/19/00, 3:50 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Lyle Johnson Bedi and Johnson Attorneys at Law

Re: My wife and the father of my son have never been married what rights does he

Contact the bio father and request that he sign a relinquishment of his parental rights. You can get the form from the local department of social services.

If he refuses to sign the form you have some ooptions:

Under California law he has abandoned the child if he does not provide support and does not have contact with the child for a period of 12 months.

You did not mention a child support order, but if a support order was made, and he has not paid support, he owes the unpaid support. There is no time limit to collecting the unpaid support. If he will not sign the relinquishment then begin collection proceedures.

The threat of paying child support will usually convince the absent parent to relinquish his right.

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Answered on 10/18/00, 2:53 pm


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