How can my husband adopt my daughter?

Question

my daughter is 11 her father has never been around we broke up when i was 2 months pregnant with her.i have never talked or seen him since then.i would not even know how to find him. he is not on the birth certificate or on any paper work.can my husband adopt her? he has been in her life for 9yrs now and he is great with her.also how much does this process cost?

Answer 1

The first thing is to be done is get a attorney.

Go to the phone book and start calling.

They can give you estimates of how much there fee will be and they can get the proper paperwork drawn up for you to present to the judge.

You can more likely will be able to handle this maybe on your own once the paperwork and the attorney fee's have been paid and he sets up a time for you both to go before the judge.

I would call around and find the most reasonable attorney and make an appointment to go in and tell them what you want to do, sometimes there is no charge for the first visit.

Since the real father is not on the birth certificate, then you shouldn't have any problem with your husband adopting your daughter.

All you may have to do is show proof that she has been living with the two of you ever since she was a baby or at least most of her life.

Answer 2

It does not matter if her biological father is or is not on her birth certificate or if he has or has not seen her since she was born , you still have to find him either on your own or by hiring a private investigator and he has to sign a release form allowing your husband to adopt her that's the law.

Are you ready realisatically for the can of worm's your about to open ? the pain he may return and want in on her life ? seriously you need to think long and hard , you'll be made to go to counciling with her to see how she feel's about you her step dad and her biological dad and then "IF" her biological sperm donor does return she get's to suffer through the pain and anguish of your hurt and the jealousy at having to share her the step dad will go through .

Just allow your daughter and your husband to keep the relationship they have as unfair as it sounds the law is the law does your beautiful girl deserve the pain and confusion?

Answer 3

Let you in on something my parents did in a similar situation with my older brother. My brother was born when my mum was quite young, she never put the fathers name on the birth certificate. So when my dad came along, instead of doing official adoption, they just went to the court house and declared that my dad(my brothers step-dad I guess) was the original father, and then he was put on the birth certificate, they were advised that this would be alot more simple than going through the adoption process, and it still has the same end result anyway.  

Answer 4

Depends on the state you live in but typically if you can get her biological father to sign over his rights great then its easy and the process might not take that long and the cost is low but if you can't then  you must file for abandonment and then start the paperwork for a legal adoption.  This process is longer because the bio dad needs to be served with the abandonment charge and depending on rather or not he fights it.  This all has to be done within the city you live in through their court system.

Answer 5

Very simple, add his name to the birth certificate!