Legal Question in Family Law in New Mexico
Family Law
My daughter is 6 months old. The father has not been around and wants nothing to do with her. I get $312 a month in TANF for her and Medicaid which the father will have to pay back. I already filed the child support so thats in progress. I read that if the CS is less than my TANF it will go straight to the Welfare to pay them back. My question is, If my boyfriend wants to adopt her, what steps do we need to take? Will my boyfriend have to pay back anything that the father did not? What happens with everything if my BF were to adopt her and will the father still have to pay anything? Lot of questions, need help. Thank you.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Family Law
For your boyfriend to adopt her you will need either the father's consent (easy) or you will have to terminate his parental rights (harder, but doable, especially if you can show he hasn't attempted to see her for a long time - called abandonment) or paid child support.
The law is not clear to me as to whether the obligation for child support from the father will be terminated by the adoption. If there is court-ordered child support the court would probably at least have to be asked to terminate it, it doesn't seem to me to be terminated by the act of adoption. Another attorney may see this differently. However, your boyfriend upon adoption would definitely become obligated for child support so he should be aware that he would be on the hook if you split up. I would suggest you get married first, but it does not seem to be mandatory.
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