[ub1998]

I have a 13 year of daughter from a previous marriage. I have been married for over 9 years now to my husband, my ex-husband has not attempted contact in over 8 years and I have never, never received any child support. I have not attempted, because my ex-husband was very abusive and even after my divorce he still came around with guns stating he was going to kill me. I have never really tried to do much, I just wanted him out of my life and away. Now, my daughter is 13 and wants her name the same as mine, my husband and our other two daughters. What can I do, I do believe my ex-husband has moved to La. What can I do, to change take away his parental rights, so my husband can now take care of her, should something happen to me? :confused:

[mcrofoo1]

I was a child in that situation. My step father adopted me which gave me his last name on my birth certificate and made him legally my father so when they were divorced he was the one that was paying child support.

[ScottGem]

Your husband needs to formally adopt your daughter. To do that you will need to terminate the father's parental rights. To file the petition, you will need an attorney. The attorney will advise you how to terminate his rights. There are procedures you need to go through depending on local laws. Under the circumstances you shouldn't have too much of a problem terminating rights due to abandonment. But you NEED a attorney to navigate through Family court.