Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia

I was 17 when I got pregnant by a guy I dont know. I dont want to say I was raped because it wasnt an agressive, forceful type of encounter but i was unter the influence and I know that he was way older than 17. my daughter has never met him and in fact I never saw him again after we had sex. For all of my daughter's life she has only known one father. He loves her as his own and we decided to get married last year so my last name has changed which wasnt all that bad until we had a baby and her last name is the same as ours which is really bothering our 5 year old. She doesnt understand why she is the only one in the house with a different last name. My husband has wanted to adopt her for a long time now so that she would be legally his which is one of the reasons we went ahead and got married. I want to know what my options are since I have no idea of how to contact my daughter's "sperm donor" and even if I did I know he would not ever want to admit to taking advantage of a 17 year old girl


Asked on 6/28/11, 7:44 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert Beard Attorney at Law

Your situation is not as difficult as you might imagine. You and your husband can file a petition for a stepparent adoption. You will need to make a good faith effort to locate the biological father. If you cannot, you will need to give notice by an order of publication. If you do locate him, you will need to serve him with notice. He will have several options, including consenting to the adoption, or denying paternity. He could also contest the adoption, but under the facts you have stated, that seems unlikely. You would be well advised to get an attorney's assistance in this process.

Good luck. If you have further questions, feel free to contact me directly.

Read more
Answered on 6/28/11, 7:56 am


Related Questions & Answers

More Family Law, Divorce, Child Custody and Adoption questions and answers in Virginia