Legal Question in Family Law in Georgia
nothing to do with divorce. i have a 22 yr old daughter that i became pregnant with during a seperation from my husband. the biological father, my husband that raised her and i agreed that she would be raised by my husband and i although she has visited with the bio many times. we just told her everything as he is in poor health. he has agreed to see her, talk to her and would love to have some kind of relationship before he dies and she would like some resolution as well. the problem is his 1st son has power of attorney over he and his health so he refuses to allow her to see or speak with him and controls every move made. she will be taking her paternity test this month per his sons request. she only wants to speak with and see him and doesnt want anything at all from him. what are her rights to do that, if any? with the son getting in the way and from what he says the legal right to do so, she is lost in the middle through no fault of her own. what can be done? does he have the right to deny them speaking?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Yes, I am afraid he does. The only way to defeat a power of attorney is with a guardianship. What the son probably does not want is your daaughter getting to know her father and all of a sudden, the son must now share whatever assets there are. Maybe if you can convince no. 1 son that the daughter just wants to speak with her father, who is on his deathbed, he will relent.
Get those paternity tests done soon before the man dies. Maybe the son will relent. If the son is that controlling, your daughter might have a good case for undue influence and might call the son's bluff by threatening to bring a guardianship proceeding if all she wants is to talk and the son is standing in the way.
I will leave it up to you as to how this is accomplished, but your daughter has to try and convince the son to let her visit with her father. If that fails, you may need to get a lawyer involved wherever the father resides.
Powers of attorney deal with paperwork. If the bio father wants to see your child, no power of attorney can prevent that. If he isn't following up, the bad news for you it that he is probably lying. Also, powers of attorney are revocable, so the bio dad can revoke it whenever he wants.
Are you sure that there is not a GUARDIANSHIP rather than a power of attorney?
Either you have been fed BS by the bio-dad, or you have your facts wrong.