My husband Adopting my daughter? Attorney Necessary?

Question

I have a 3 yr old- In the 3 years she has lived there had been no visitation. Non- custodial parent said he would sign over rights if child support was relinquished. Is there any way to do this without an attorney? In the past i was able to file other legal stuff myself, But is Adoption possible without an attorney? From my understanding there has to be mediation, mutual agreement - I dont talk to this man.... Is that where the Attorney comes in? I also heard about a Social Worker getting involved? Is that necessary? I can tell im in for a whirl wind and I just would like some clearance. My husband and I want this so badly. My daughter knows him as daddy and we already "un leagally" gave her his last name.

Answer 1

It depends on where you live.  Some states allow you to file all the paperwork yourself, as long as you can get the birth father's signature.  Contact social services in your area and they can give you the details - it should be simple and painless :)

Answer 2

Adoption is not a do-it-yourself project. Get a lawyer. Many states require a home visit as well.  Just because you are married, doesn't mean they automatically approve everybody.

Answer 3

Your husband has to go through nearly all the steps to adopt your daughter as if he was doing this through the state...

anyway, in our state that's how it works.  And yes, an attorney, social worker and the whole nine...

Answer 4

To be on the safe side I would have an attorney involved.

Answer 5

I would contact Family Services and ask them what you should do. You want to make sure that everything is legal. The courts need to be contacted because of the child support issues.

Answer 6

It depends on your state laws.  We did the same thing a few years ago in Alabama, we had to have an attorney.  The attorney drew up all of the papers, my ex-husband came to his office and signes everything, then we went before a judge to have it finalized.  The main reason of going before the judge was to make sure my present husband understood his new responsibilities.  As long as the biological father is willing to sign over his parental rights it's a very simple process.

Answer 7

I'm in Texas and my husband did a step parent adoption a few years ago on my son. My ex husband did not pay child support, and had no contact other than the occasional threat via email.

I first filed for divorce from him. He was ordered to pay support and medical bills. I remarried in the mean time. After 1 year of non payment we saw an attorney.

He (our lawyer) filed for termination of parental rights  on grounds of failure to support and abandonment with parent for longer than 6 months and then a step parent adoption all in one shot for us. We had to have our attorney, pay for an attorney at lietm for my son, and one for my ex husband who not even reply. Then we had to pay a social worker 500$ for a social study.

She came checked on our house, we had to show we made enough money, had insurance. She asked my husband some questions- very laid back. Then asked my son a few questions.

We had to fill out a questionairre on histories, medical histories, and criminal background. Then my husband had to get finger printed and have a full country wide criminal background check.

After everything was in order we had our hearing.  Overall it cost us a total of about $3400 (but we had to do news paper postings and all that, plus change the birth certificate). It took a total of 4 months to get it all done and totally worth it.

There is so much involved in one of these cases. It is never open & shut. Plus this is your child so you want to make sure everything is in order and correctly done, so there is no loop holes and no wiggle room. To get the new birth certificate with the new name and to have the social security number changed you have to have a lot of documents that have to be perfect. Your lawyer can help you with all this too. It can get tedious.

A lot of lawyers will work with you on payment plans too.