Legal Question in Family Law in Texas
terminating rights
My question is if a man has taken a dna test and proven to the bio father can he terminate his rights to this child 1) based on when the bio mother told the bio father she was pregnant and getting an abortion and he gave her the money for it but instead she had the baby anyway and named another man as the father and he took the dna test and the other man was proven not to the father, the child is now 10yrs of age, and now she is asking the atg's office to come after the bio father now that he is determined to be the father and 2)can he terminate his rights if he has another child by this same woman and he has legal custody of the child and she has child support on her that she does not pay? also can he sign the affadavit to reliquish parental rights form before he goes to the atg's office and they put child support on him and how does he go about signing the form?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: terminating rights
You cannot just terminate your rights and responsibilities on your own. The facts concerning the intended abortion and fraud, if that happened, are irrelevant; this is a child who has two parents to support him or her and the court is not going to change that. Even if the mother wanted you to be terminated, the court would be unlikely to do so unless there was someone else ready to adopt to take your place. Likewise, the other child and the payment or nonpayment of child support does not effect this situation.
Unless the mother wants you terminated and there is a good reason for the court to do so, the affidavit to reliquish parental rights form does not apply here.
You do need an attorney, however, to protect your right relative to the child and to negotiate or try your child support issues.
Re: terminating rights
No court is going to bastarize a child in Texas.
If another man has been found to be the father (say in A Final Decree of Divorce) then that man is the father even though he is not the true biological father.
I strongly encourage you to consult an attorney immediately.
Good luck!
Fran Brochstein
713-847-6000
www.familylaw4u.com
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