Legal Question in Family Law in Florida
My daughter's biological father has agreed to sign over his legal rights to me (her biological mother). He has a past history of child abuse with another child of his (not mine) and is suspect in my daughters abuse case. He is behind on child support and child support does go through the state. I have agreed to waive all past child support in order to gain legal custody of her. (I have physical custody of her now). There was a previous case on me when my mother got upset I didn't want her to see my daughter for personal reasons and legally went through the courts and illegally used grandparents law (I am in Florida and we do not have that law - nor was I served - and proper court procedures were not filed) the new judge did ask if I wanted to press charges on my mother for kidnapping (I declined) my mother now is completely behind me on gaining full legal custody of my child and will testify that all during that case was falsified information on her part. My question is every lawyer I have talked to regarding my case states without a step-parent to adopt it can not be done. Yet I have seen many parents gain full legal custody of there child and are not remarried. How do I go about getting forms (what forms do I need for this also) if no lawyer takes my case and can this be done in Florida?
1 Answer from Attorneys
There are no forms for what you want to do because what you want to do can't legally be done in Florida. The problem is, you want to "bastardize" your child (yes, that's the legal term). In other words, you want to force your child to live without a father. Not only is that illegal in Florida, it's not right in terms of your child. It's legal if you offer another father; that's why it works in stepparent adoptions. But you can't just force a child to be fatherless.
However, all that having been said, I have occasionally seen it done. Don't ask me how, but I have heard tales where lawyers (almost jokingly or pridefully) tell me that in some of the smaller counties, they've managed to accomplish what you're seeking.
Bottom line, if you can accomplish it, you sure can't accomplish it on your own because, not only are there no forms for it, you're doing something that technically shouldn't be done.
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