I am pregnant and the father of the child wants nothing to do with it. He is willing to relinquish his parental rights because he doesn't want to pay child support. He keeps telling me that his lawyer is preparing the proper documentation but I don't believe him. Can he relinquish his rights before the baby is born? (I hope so!) and what legal form do I need to file in order to make this happen?

He can relinquish his parental rights, but it does not relinquish his financial responsibilities. He will still be obligated to pay support for your child

Quite the contrary. As it was explained to me, if he signs off on his rights, the child is no longer considered his legally, physically, or financially. Therefore, he would no longer be required to pay child support of any kind.
The father of my eldest daughter has refused to meet her and take care of her but pays nearly $800 a month in child support. Should I decide to terminate his rights or go for 'abandonment' and allow for my fiancé to adopt her: he would no longer be required to pay child support as my fiancé would.
As I said, if he does sign off all rights, he is no longer responsible.
The child will no longer be linked to him.

If that were truly the case then I believe there would be a line at every courthouse in the world. Men who are divorced, men who are not married to their baby's mothers. Women who are divorced, but do not have custody of their children, etc.

It has to do with making sure the child is financially cared for. If the custodial parent can VERY comfortably afford it on his/her own, and asks that no support be ordered, the court may take this into consideration. However, the court's main concern is the safety and security of the child.

In most states, the STATE will not allow the man or women to give up their rights to support, the reason being, if the person with custody would get on welfare or need state assistance for the baby, they want to have the father finicailly obligated to pay, thus to pay them back for money they spend out.

Next the one spouse because of anger should not give away the money the baby is entitled to, it does not matter what you want, that baby is suppose to be receiving that money and it is really your obigation to assure it happens.

Now the only way he can get out of it, is like KISS said, if you have someone that is willing to adopt the baby, a new husband. Then he is no longer respnosiblibe, But he can not do it, legally without that happening, and never do it without your permission.

And of course he can not file anything until the baby is born,

Yes, in the majority of cases, adoption is the only way out. Notice I said majority.

And no, nothing can be filed until after the birth. There must be a live birth prior to filing. If by some terrible fate you do not carry to term, time and money is spent with the courthouse in question. They also may request a DNA sample for proof of paternity.

I doubt that he can just "relinquish his rights" (and responsibilities), unless there's someone waiting in the wings to adopt this child. I think that any lawyer trying to draft up any "documents" is just wasting his/her time. I'd be hard pressed to believe that any lawyer is counseling him to the effect that this is even a possibility.

I don't know what state you're in, but I'm in Texas. When my daughter was smaller, her father wanted to relinquish his rights so he didn't have to pay. We were told that unless there is another parent (if you are remarried) there to take over the role, they don't like to do it. I was a single mother so he wasn't allowed to. Had I been married where my husband could adopt her they would have let him.

Depends on what state. In Washington the welfare of the child is utmost important. The financial burden falls on the father and Mother regardless. In fact in Washinton if my wife became pregnant by another and the other was nowhere to be found and I got devoriced I would still be responsible for the kid, believe it or not.

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Originally Posted by J_9

If that were truly the case then I believe there would be a line at every courthouse in the world. Men who are divorced, men who are not married to their baby's mothers. Women who are divorced, but do not have custody of their children, etc.

It has to do with making sure the child is financially cared for. If the custodial parent can VERY comfortably afford it on his/her own, and asks that no support be ordered, the court may take this into consideration. However, the court's main concern is the safety and security of the child.

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I have to fully disagree with you.

The actual reason why there aren't lines at every courthouse in America is because you can be denied. The decision is based on individual cases, and why the non-custodial filed to begin with. If he's doing it to avoid child support, it will likely be denied.

Approval usually is for the following reasons:

Potential Adoption

Neglectful OR Abusive Parent.