My son has no legal father stated on his birth certificate, what would I have to do for my husband to legally adopt him?

Locate his biological father, establish paternity, get the biological father to relinquish his parental rights in a court of law, and file adoption paperwork.

I highly suggest that you get a lawyer for this, as laws can vary from place to place on EXACTLY what needs to be done and HOW it needs to be done.

Whether your son has a father noted on his birth certificate or not is a moot issue. Unless you are claiming an immaculate conception, he has a biological father. And that father has rights. So the father needs to be determined before any adoption can proceed.

Being that his father decided not to sign his birth certificate, isn't that the same as him relinquishing his rights

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Originally Posted by brena38237

Being that his father decided not to sign his birth certificate, isn't that the same as him relinquishing his rights

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No. Its not the same in any way.

Your threads have been merged, please only one thread per topic

Depending on what state your in you will be instructed to follow many steps. In several states even when the father is truthfully unknown you will have to run ads in major newspapers all over the state(s) stating your full name at the time of conception, the approx date of conception, and the name(s) of the possible alleged biological father. After an ordered period, several more run ads and possibly having to hire a PI to locate the missing father if he is known- to look for him all over the U.S.-, the court still may or may not allow adoption of the child. If the father is known it is not uncommon in some states for his family; ie: parents to be contacted and given the choice to show interest and/or help locate their son. When/if the alleged father is located paternity must still be established. It has become an unfortunate event for fathers to be "replaced" often times without their knowledge, many courts are doing their best to prevent such occurrences from happening- which is why all possible efforts must be made to locate him. As for him not signing the birth certificate, that does NOT mean he didn't want to be in the child's life or wanted to relinquish his rights.