Legal Question in Family Law in Texas
In 1984 my ex husband gave up rights to our daughter (3) with the understanding that he would never have rights to her ever again. He raped me in my sleep and upon the attorney finding out felt that the reason he gave her up was so I would not persue this and take him to court to keep my child safe which he would have lost her either way. He had a huge drinking problem and never paid child support ,not once. I was told that this could be a precursor to him being a childhood sexual preditor.I was glad to take her and raise her without being labeled as the daughter of a sexual preditor.
Fast forward. She is now an incredible grown woman who is the Mother of my two grandkids. We are very close. Or at least I though so. I found out via Facebook that she has been having a 4 year long relationship with her Bio dad behind my back. He was surprised she found him and wanted a relationship because he did not realize that I never told her anything bad about him or the fact that he almost killed her twice and could have gone to jail.
Now That I have found out she has bonded with him to the point that I am being asked to just forgive and move forward even with the new info she has because according to her he has changed.
My issue is when he gave her up I was under the understand that it was forever, not just until she was paid for. Is there any way to take him back to court to get the money that he should have paid to have the privilege to have her in his life? I feel that without an financial cost to him I have no way to show who he truly is.If there is any cost he wont want her anymore. It is all about him getting everything for free. I also have asked for a lie detector test to be done to show her that he is lying about the rape and issues regarding her almost being killed.
Are there any laws to protect parents who have done everything only to have somene like him to show up when the finacial needs have all been meet?
I have heard about alianation of affect issues in the news, does this apply to things like this?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Your daughter is an adult and is entitled to have a relationship with anyone she chooses. Your ex husband is also free to have a relationship with any adult he chooses.
I'm assuming that you had your ex-husband's parental rights terminated in 1984. If that was the case, then your ex-husband became a legal "stranger" to your daughter and, while she was under 18, had absolutely no parental rights to her (i.e. visitation, participation in school activities, etc.). This also meant that your ex-husband's duty of support was also terminated.
However, once your daughter turned 18, she became an adult and was free to make her own choices. An adult does not need a parent's approval for anything.
Legally, there is nothing you can do to disrupt your daughter's relationship with her biological father. You were free to tell her what happened in 1984, but that's about it. I suggest that you respect your daughter's choices as to who she chooses to associate with; otherwise, you may harm your own relationship with your daughter.
Good luck,
Marc A. Pederson
Attorney at Law
http://www.pedersonlaw.com
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