Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

Father In Jail - Mother put baby up for adoption w/o Consent

My son's g/f told him she had a miscarriage, then on 020400 he was served papers to relinquish his parental rights. He is in jail. His court-appointed atty led us to believe she was handling it. He was supposed to respond w/in 20 days of notice. We did not find out until after the 20 period had lapsed that she was not going to represent him in this case, so no reply was sent. Does he automatically lose his rights. We (the paternal grandparents) would like to either adopt or have a managerial conservatorship for this child. Is it too late for us too, since he did not respond to the original notice? Any help would be greatly appreciated. The mother has already given the baby to the parents she is going to allow to adopt the child. They are from out of state & she has refused their offer of an open adoption. What if any rights do we have as the parents of the father of this baby?


Asked on 4/06/00, 9:50 am

2 Answers from Attorneys
Paul T. Hebda, Ph.D., J.D. The Hebda Law Firm

Re: Father In Jail - Mother put baby up for adoption w/o Consent

Simply put, your son needs to hire an attorney immediately to assert his rights even tho he missed the answer deadline.

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Answered on 4/20/00, 8:31 am
James Grissom Law Office of James P. Grissom

Re: Father In Jail - Mother put baby up for adoption w/o Consent

Your son would have to assert that his failure to answer was no fault of his. The parent of the child has the greater legal rights in this matter, and grandparents have no rights to assert or relinquish.

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Answered on 4/19/00, 6:49 pm


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