Legal Question in Family Law in Montana
My huband wants to adopt my son!
Hi.I am trying to find out what it will take for my husband of 12 years to adopt my 14 year old son.I was 17 years old when I gave birth and I became pregnant by a man who I met at a party.I wrote on the birth certificate that the father was unknown,which is pretty much the truth.I met my current husband a couple years later and he as been "DAD" ever since,also my son goes by my husbands last name.We have 4 other kids besides,so this avoids alot of confusion,it has worked pretty good[except tax time]but now Drivers Ed class is begining and we do not want our son to have to use my maiden name[on the birth certificate]on his drivers licsence.We have put this off for to long,we were told once this would cost $500.00 and that extra $ never seemed to come.Please Help.Thank you so much!
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: My huband wants to adopt my son!
Stepfather will be the petitioner seeking to adopt and asking the court to terminate biological father's parental rights. In the petition, stepdad will state the facts that comply with the law so that the court can terminate bio dad's parental rights. You will file an accompanying Mother's Consent to Adoption. Since the child and the stepfather have lived together so long, DPHHS might waive the investigation but might want to do one anyway. The investigation is usually a check of their files to make sure your names don't pop up, and maybe a home visit and interviews. Serve the petition on bio dad if you know where he is. Otherwise, you can serve him by publication, which you've seen in the Legals section of the classifieds. I don't know what county you're in, so I don't know your judge's preference but, in Missoula, you would present a proposed order of adoption for the judge to sign.
Unsolicited advice to consider: when son gets his license, have him ask for a license number other than his SSN, and use the license number on his checks. Just a little extra effort to safeguard your SSN.
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