Legal Question in Family Law in Mississippi

Re: Changing daughters last name from absent fathers

Your choices are to either obtain the absent father's consent or seek termination of his parental rights and adoption of your daughter by her stepfather. If the biological father's parental rights are terminated, he will no longer be responsible for future child support and will not be entitled to inherit from your child. Also, your child will not be entitled to inherit from the biological father. To pursue backdue child support you should contact your local child support enforcement division of the Miss. Dept of Human Services. The most it will cost you is $25 and they have strong abilities to locate the father and collect. The other side of the coin is that they are usually so understaffed it takes a while to see any action on your child's case. Often times people don't pursue backdue child support because of concern it will stir up visitation matters by a poor example of a parent. If the noncustodial parent knows this he or she will try to use that concern to his or her advantage.