My husband and I have been married for almost 2 years now and we are wanting to know how to go about getting him able to adopt my son. My husband has been his "Father" since he was 8 months old, his biological father is not in the picture. He has not paid child support since we split up, he hasn't seen him since then either. We are low on money and we want to know if we can do it without having to go and get a lawyer. My sons biological father has also signed his rights over but not through the court. I had a friend type it up ( she worked for a lawyer) and she notrized it for me and he also had it notrized. Please any help would be greatly appreciated. :confused:

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Originally Posted by jamie109

My husband and I have been married for almost 2 years now and we are wanting to know how to go about getting him able to adopt my son. My husband has been his "Father" since he was 8 months old, his biological father is not in the picture. He has not paid child support since we split up, he hasn't seen him since then either. We are low on money and we want to know if we can do it without having to go and get a lawyer. My sons biological father has also signed his rights over but not through the court. I had a friend type it up ( she worked for a lawyer) and she notrized it for me and he also had it notrized. Please any help would be greatly appreciated. :confused:

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I have no idea what the father signed but it has to be in a format approved by the Court. You can always go to the branch that handles adoption in your area, take the paper with you and ask.

Without knowing what was signed it's impossible to tell.

All a notary does is verify that the person signed, of course, but it's better notarized than not.

First no the bio father has not signed over any rights, in fact in most states the judge will not allow, and the paper you had done is basically worthless. notrized only means that they checked the ID of the people that signed it, it does not make it anymore legal.

So you will have to get the bio father legally sign over his rights to allow your new husband to adopt.
Then this along with the adoption paper work would be filed with the court. ** I would not let that friend do it, since they lead you very wrong on the signing over rights issue.

You will need to shop this around to some attorneys, see if you have a legal aid department

I'm going to partially disagree here. The document he signed may not be worthless (on the other hand it may). However, until a court affirms it it has no legal standing. But I don't see a court accepting it without verification. However, it does indicate the bio-father is willing to relinquish.

The issue here is how friendly the court is. I would go to some adoption agencies in your area and sound them out about the forms and the friendliness of the courts. Since it would appear this would not be a contested adoption, it may go easy for you.