Legal Question in Family Law in Texas
Father willfully giving up his rights to his children
My husband plans to try to relinquish all his rights to his three youngest children when our divorce is filed. First we adopted these children while we were married and my son who is 11 has many emotional problems and is under a psychiatrist's care. My husband is involved with another woman and her family so he has a new family. He says he wants to relinquish his rights because he doesnt want the responsibility of these kids and especially of our son in case he ever does something that we have to be responsible for. I also believe that he doesnt want to be finanacially responsible for them. Dont get me wrong, I dont mind having total and complete custody of my kids...I would prefer that and would care for them in every way. But this is going to hurt my kids immensely because they love their dad and especially my son, who still begs for his daddy everyday. My question is..can he relinquish his rights and if he does then is he totally no responsible for anything with these kids? Can he still be made to pay child support to support them in someway? This is just going to put more emotional stress on all of my children but more so for my son and this will effect them for the rest of their lives. My son doesnt need this.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Father willfully giving up his rights to his children
I assume you have an attorney. If so, you need to talk to your attorney.
Generally speaking in Texas, it is difficult to relinquish your rights unless there is a new "father" that is willing to step into his shoes.
However, the decision to terminate parental rights will be determined by the Judge of your case.
If there is an attorney appointed to represent the children's interests, you need to talk to that person.
If he does not want to visit the children, you cannot make his visit the children. However, since you don't know what the future holds, it might be fiscally sound to have him remain a parent -- such as health insurance, help in paying uninsured medical bills, etc.
I hope this information is helpful.
Fran Brochstein
www.familylaw4u.com
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