My daughter recently had her first birthday and to this day her father has wanted nothing to do with her- in fact has never even seen her. I have filed for child support. The only hardship being we live in two different states-- therefore, it takes longer (so I heard). I obviously am not receiving child support yet and don't really need or want it. I do, however, want my ex to sign over all parental rights. (Which he is willing to do)... how do I go about this? Are there different laws in different states? Do we need to go to court? I live in VA and he in VT. HELP!

I've moved this to the Family Law forum. If you browse through this forum, you will find this same question asked over and over.

The bottomline is that court are very reluctant to grant a TPR. Generally they only do so to clear the way for adoption or because the parent represents a danger to the child.

So I would forget about trying to get a TPR at this point. The courts won't grant it.

Yes thre are different laws in different states, but there are many commonalities. And yes, a Family Court has to grant the TPR.

The only way that he can sign over his rights is if another man will adopt your child. I tried to have my daughter's father sign over his rights and the courts told me that he couldn't because the child can not go fatherless. So, if you get married and your husband wants to adopt your daughter and the bio father is willing to sign over his rights then you can do that. And about the child support issue, it has been three years since I have filed for child support and I am now in a different state than my daughter's father and I still have never received a payment.