Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

We live in Texas. My ex has not been active in the children's lives for about 9 years now, but he still pays (a piddly amount of) child support through the attorney general. We don't even know where he lives or works now, and we don't want to. My teens want to be adopted by their step-father, but we do not want to have to contact their violent pedophile biological father. Can we do that without his permission considering that it has been years since he has seen the children? We are willing to sacrifice the child support to do this.


Asked on 6/02/11, 12:50 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Mark Dunn Mark D. Dunn

You don't need Dad's PERMISSION to terminate his parental rights and do an adoption for the children. You do need to HAVE HIM SERVED with the petition, and for that you'll need to know where he is.

And you'll need to have GROUNDS for termination (see chapter 161 of the Texas Family Code) which you probably don't have.

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Answered on 6/04/11, 10:37 pm


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