Legal Question in Family Law in Georgia
I am from Oklahoma City but now live in Atlanta Georgia. My fianc� wants to adopt my daughter when we get married. Her biological father has never been in her life and didn't sign her birth certificate but she has his last name. I have never filed for her birth certificate but now that she is entering into the kindergarten I will have to do so. Can I apply for her birth certificate from Georgia and can my fianc� sign her birth certificate to change her name? Do we still have to go through the process of adoption?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Make sure the birth certificate was not filed in Oklahoma, as hospital births will require a certificate to be filed with the state. If not, then you will need to have one filed in the state where the child was born. Adding your husband to the birth certificate later will require an adoption, and putting his name on an original when you know he is not the biological father and was not married to you at the time the child was born could be illegal. Given the circumstances you have stated, speak to a lawyer about doing a stepparent adoption. The process may be simpler than you think, and will solve all of the issues you are having.
Adding someone who is not the parent as a parent cannot be done by having him sign a birth certificate; in fact that is a crime. The good news is that there is an easy answer - a stepparent adoption. That can't happen until after your marriage, so do that soon. Once that happens, you and your fiance can meet with a lawyer to get things going.