Full custody of my son?

Question

My ex husband hasn't paid child support in 9 years and he was court ordered to, we split up shortly after my son was born...we got married at 16 and now I am 26 and him 28...he walked out and has never been back and I want him away form my son, my son doesn't want anything to do with him either and has no clue who he is...he lives in Maryland and I am in Florida..he is also in jail right now and could care less about our son...has a heavy criminal record etc...I am remarried to a great guy who wants to adopt my son...already went through dept of rev and that was 2 years ago and haven't received anything...my question is how do I get full custody of my son, what is the first step?

Answer 1

I would think that his rights could be terminated based on abandonment laws but they vary by state. I know it requires contacting him (or your lawyer contacting him) which shouldn't be difficult since he's in jail. He would probably sign them over willingly though seeing as how he isn't involved anyway and then he'd be relieved of his child support obligations. After that the adoption process should be fairly simple. I think you might get better answers to this in the legal section if you ask there. Best of luck! =]

Answer 2

get a lawyer and talk to them about this...I don't know the laws in your area but where I grew up (North Dakota) if the parent does not have contact with the child for a full year then they have given up all parental rights and it could be a very smooth process being he hasn't paid child support or had contact with your son...I really wish my husband was home right now because he went through all of this and could probably give more information than me...hope this helps...but like I said I would deffinetly contact a lawyer

Answer 3

your first step is to go to the court house and get the proper paper work filled out, you can talk with a family justice councelor to help you with this...they will set up a court date and serve your ex in jail with the paper work. im not sure if he will be aloud out to attend court or not, this is something to discuss with the worker. Now when he shows, the judge will decide what is best for the child and he may grant supervised visitation...who knows, you may get full custody.,,,

Now in order for your current husband to be able to adopt your son, the father is going to have to sign his parental rights over. If he is willing to do that, you wont have to worry about gaining full custody, you will automatically get it.

Answer 4

You have full custody of your son by now so I wouldn't worry about that.

Get a lawyer. You might be able to get one through legal aid through this or just call or email the family lawyers in the area and they might be willing to do the paperwork for a reasonable price. First you have to serve your ex with papers to terminate his parental rights. He can be served in the jail  -- actually a bonus since he'll be easy to find if you know which jail.  He has x number of days to respond. Either he won't respond at all or he'll agree most likely in which case the papers should go through easily. If he does fight it but has never paid child support in nine years then it's going to be pretty easy anyway but a bit more expense and hassle if you have to go to court more than once.

After that your husband can apply to adopt your son.

Congratulations (on marrying a guy who wants to be a family with you -- that's cool -- not on your ex obviously). :-)

Answer 5

Hi,  

There are some missing pieces of the puzzel here.  1) Were you allowed to take your son out of MD?  2) What is he (ex) in jail for?  3) Does he want his parental rights, support and all? 4) Does your husband want to adopt your son?  

In my opionion the easiest thing to do is send him a letter in jail  asking him to give up his parental rights. It would be best if this letter was sent by an attorney.  You wouldn't have to give him any of your personal information.  I do have experience in this area so if you want to talk just email me.  I'm sure I could give you some insight.

Sincerely,

Answer 6

Your best bet is to get a lawyer, your ex will need to sign over his parental rights so your husband can adopt your son.  You will not have to move to his state to get this done.  Because he's in jail, it should be a lot easier for the lawyer/court to track him down to serve him with the paperwork.  The tricky part will getting him to sign.  However it could be helpful to remind him that he will no longer owe child support.  A lot of men/women are willing to sign over their rights because of that.  Good luck!