My daughter is 8 months old. Her biological father has had no communication or helped in any way since her birth. She was born in ga but we live in va now. I'm not sure which state laws to go by and when I can file for abandonment and possibly child support if I can do so without giving him the right to see her. My husband takes responsibility for her and supports her as his. Can anyone give advice on how we can go about doing this?

You do not file for abandonment, that is either a criminal activity such as leaving the child at Walmart. You can of course file for full custody and child support, but no reason is required, except that the child is his.

If your new husband want to adopt, you can get the child's father to sign over his rights to allow adoption.

Or you just hire an attorney and file for child support. ( which is what you needed to do, long time ago)

Abandonment is grounds that you claim when you file for something. Its not what you file for.

When were you married with respect to the child's birth? Have you done anything in court with respect to paternity and support? Have you contacted the bio father about being a father?

... I'm not sure which state laws to go by and when I can file for abandonment and possibly child support if I can do so without giving him the right to see her. ...

You need to file for custody and child support. There may be an agency in Virginia which will help you with collecting child support. When you file in court, he can always counter-sue for custody or visitation. That doesn't mean he has grounds (Since he has had no contact, it appears that he doesn't) but he can ask.

You should be aware that the Georgia courts, not the Virginia courts, may currently have exclusive jurisdiction to award custody (See the UCCJEA (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Child_Custody_Jurisdiction_And_Enforcement _Act)). Virginia will have jurisdiction only when the child has lived there for the greater part of her life (Thus, you took her to Virginia four months after she was born, Virginia jurisdiction would start right about now; if you took her there earlier, jurisdiction would similarly be in Virginia).

You need to file for custody and child support. There may be an agency in Virginia which will help you with collecting child support. When you file in court, he can always counter-sue for custody or visitation. That doesn't mean he has grounds (Since he has had no contact, it appears that he doesn't) but he can ask.

You should be aware that the Georgia courts, not the Virginia courts, may currently have exclusive jurisdiction to award custody (See the UCCJEA (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Child_Custody_Jurisdiction_And_Enforcement _Act)). Virginia will have jurisdiction only when the child has lived there for the greater part of her life (Thus, you took her to Virginia four months after she was born, Virginia jurisdiction would start right about now; if you took her there earlier, jurisdiction would similarly be in Virginia).

I thnk the OP needs to answer your other question first as far as marriage status is concerned before wasting money on hearings that are not needed.

To OP:
Were you married at the time the child was born ?

Frankly, I don't see that whether the baby was born in or out of wedlock makes any great difference (other than the presumption of paternity if she was married to him at the time of birth). If he is indeed the father, he owes child support in either case.

Also, if they were married (She is married to another man, suggesting that she and the baby's natural father aren't married now), and since divorced, the divorce decree should have addressed these (CS, custody, and visitation) issues. Thus I assume that they were not married.

Actually the question about marital status was mine. And while it ultimately might not make a difference, it could in the short term. The OP's husband might actually be the child's legal father. There may be a time limit on challenging that. And, unless paternity is challenged there may be no case for child support until it is.

Hopefully the OP will return and answer our questions so we can advise.

I was going to post what Scott posted. If the OP was married before the child's birth, in most courts the husband is presumed to be the father of the child. So many times a man that is the biological father, has no rights because the mother of his child was married, or married while pregnant, and the husband is presumed to be the father.

Unless she's proven that another man is the father of this child via a DNA test, she has no legal standing to go after support.

So knowing when she got married is very important.

Unless and until we know the marital status of the OP at the time of the birth of the child, much of our advice is a moot point.

Unless and until we know the marital status of the OP at the time of the birth of the child, much of our advice is a moot point.

Very true, but when/if she comes back, the advice will be here waiting for her. It is, after all, what we do. :)

No harm in posting advice, it may help someone other than the OP.

Just as you have a right to get child support the father has a right for visitations, and all that starts with filing in a court of law and may be a long extensive process. It may be quite complicated also since you may have to establish paternity, and as others have said that may involve many factors.

Forget the abandonment though, and be willing to lose the child support if indeed your husband is willing to adopt, and the father is willing to let him. It's a long process that starts with you filing for your rights and him defending his.

Be aware the father can also file for a custody agreement, if he so chooses. Whatever you do it goes through the court process, that's just how the system works. If in doubt consult a family lawyer.

...
Unless she's proven that another man is the father of this child via a DNA test, she has no legal standing to go after support.
...

That statement is "putting the cart before the horse", and therefore incorrect.

One doesn't have to "prove" paternity, via a DNA test (court-ordered or otherwise) before one can go to court. And the "right" to go to court is what "legal standing" means.

That statement is "putting the cart before the horse", and therefore incorrect.

One doesn't have to "prove" paternity, via a DNA test (court-ordered or otherwise) before one can go to court. And the "right" to go to court is what "legal standing" means.

Yes, but if she married before the baby was born, the husband is presumed to be the parent of the child, unless proven otherwise.

If she wants the bio dad to pay for child support she'll have to prove that he's the parent of the child, and not her husband.

She can go to court, anyone can, we all have that right, but depending on when she married, she may not have a legal leg to stand on. She'd be throwing her money away.

Depends on local law. I've seen laws written that if the couple is married up to a year after birth the new husband is the presumptive father.

But, alas, it appears the OP is not coming back to clarify her situation.

If current husband was married to her at the time of birth, and if a presumption of his paternity applies, one would expect that he would be on the birth certificate. She didn't indicate that he is on the BC, so I assume that he isn't named there.

But I agree, unless she returns to this thread, it really doesn't matter.

I agree as well. Assuming things and posting based on those assumptions, is not helpful. It's even less helpful for us to argue with each other when we don't have the facts.

Apparently the OP no longer wants an answer, since she hasn't been back to clarify the things needed to give proper advice.

Don't know why people even bother to sign up and ask a question when they don't bother to stick around for the answers. Makes no sense to me. Bet she's asked on many other sites, and they're just as frustrated as we are by her lack of commitment to getting an answer.

Such a waste of time.