Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

Termination of parental rights

My child's father has had no contact with my son nor I since a month into my pregnancy. He has been paying child support for about 9 months now. At the child support hearing he fought for my son's last name to be his own. But, he has not yet had any contact with him. What can I do to get his rights taken away and the name changed back. And if I do, how does the child support come into factor?


Asked on 8/22/02, 12:08 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Fran Brochstein Attorney & Mediator

Re: Termination of parental rights

You are not going to like my answer.

If a Juge has changed the child's name to his father's last name, I don't think that same Judge will change it back. You can always try but I've never seen a mother be successful.

You will always be in the same court (if the judge is not re-elected or retires you get a new judge but NOT a new court) until your child becomes an adult.

To my knowledge, no judge will "bastarize" a child.

I actually had a judge explain to me that even a guy on death row could win the lottery and he would then be able to financially support his children. Even though we all know that is a remote possibility, it does explain that the courts want parents to support their minor children and not be looking to the taxpayers of the State of Texas to support their minor children.

Good luck!

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Answered on 8/22/02, 2:17 pm


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