Is a lawyer absolutely required to file a request for adoption of my husband's biological son - he currently has "temporary emergency custody" of him for more than a year, the baby is 2 yrs old.

Is court ordered visitation that has been suspended twice by the court with a 3rd motion to suspend filed, no child support paid (nor ordered yet, but a motion for support has been filed too) considered to be more than de minimum contact?

How does this work when the bad parent is the mom, and the good parent is the dad whose current wife wants to adopt the baby because his natural mother is negligent and dangerous to the child? All Ohio law seems to have it in reverse...

Because adoption law varies so much from place to place, and because it is so darned complicated, I recommend a lawyer for ANY adoption.

If there is ANY chance that the biological mother will fight this, you will NEED a lawyer.

Look at it this way: You don't NEED a doctor to set a bone, but I really recommend it, because if it DOES go wrong, it can go REALLY wrong. Same thing with adoption. You don't NEED a lawyer---but if something goes wrong, it can go really wrong (as in, the adoption can be overturned and custody of the child awarded to the "aggrieved" parent). It's worth the money in the end to know that it was done right and that it can't be overturned.