Legal Question in Family Law in Texas
Birth father signing his rights away.
My ex-husband is about 400.00 behind in child support not much since he only owes me 68.25 a week. The problem is I've given him 1 1/2 years to catch it up, now I've found out that his last wife has recently been sentenced to prison for 5 years and he is trying to get drug rehab center to let him in for 9 weeks. I feel that it's a never ending batter with him over my son. He only lives 1 1/2 hours away and has no contact with him considering he still live in our house across the street from my father. Can I serve him papers to relinquish his rights and allow my husband to legally adopt him and have his name. My son will be 13 this year in october. Is there a cheaper way for me to do this myself without the expense of hiring a lawyer to draw up the papers and serve them. What are my legal rights for my son in the state of texas. Mind that I've never raised his child support or forced him to carry insurance like my papers said. He has just never done anything but pay the support and even that was like pulling teeth.
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Birth father signing his rights away.
Relinquishment of rights and adoption can be complicated procedures. I strongly suggest that you seek the sevices of an attorney. It will go much quicker with less posibility of complications if everything is done properly. That's what attorneys study and do as a profession. I wouldn't want to try repairing my vehicle these days, like I did years ago, because of all the computer and other innovations.
Re: Birth father signing his rights away.
It is extremely difficult to terminate a parent's rights without their consent. A court will, however, frequently allow a parent to relinquish his or her rights when the child is going to be immediately adopted.
Don't try to do this yourself. There are a lot of rules and regulations involved and even an experienced attorney needs to be very careful in this situation.
Please contact an attorney, or if you can't afford one, call your local bar association for information about legal aid programs.
Re: Birth father signing his rights away.
I have seen cases similar to what you describe where the father is delinquent in child support, insurance and doesn't exercise his visitation rights and the judge very easily terminated the parental rights. As the other lawyers have said, this is a complicated process; and unless you want to invest the time to learn how to do the job, it's is much more economical to hire a professional with experience.
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