Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

Re: signing over my rights

You cannot summarily sign away your parental rights. A suit for voluntary relinquishment of parental rights must be brought before a court. A judge would have to be convinced that the relinquishment is in the child's best interest. You will need an attorney, and your child will likely be appointed an attorney ad litem to protect his legal rights. Having served as attorney ad litem in these cases, I can warn you not to be surprised if your child's attorney opposes the relinquishment. Absent some specific statutory reasons, adoption, or extraordinary circumstances you will be asking a court to find that depriving your child of not only a biological parent, but also of financial support, inheritance rights, etc., is in the child's best interest. I have yet to see a father be successful at this solely to avoid paying child support.