This morning I found out that my x can not sign away his rights as long as my son is on medicaid. I have been trying to find out how to go about getting limited supervised visitation established in case he ever decides to pop up. I do not want my son frightened. He is a stranger to him of course. He does pay child support and has since Oct 08 but its been 2.5 yrs of no attempted contact. (In fact he has been invited to birthdays etc and does not respond.) Has it been long enough that I can file? I have tried researching the Texas laws but I haven't found the answer to this yet. I called a local lawyers office and she just told me that if he chooses to stay away leave it alone and if he ever does pop up I can call for a civil stand by and if the child is upset they will not let the ncp take him. I don't want to put my son through that. I also don't want to have to wonder if or when he could get a wild hair and just say here I am. Anyone know where I can find out??

First being on medicaid has nothing to do with him not being able to sign over his rights, He just can't sign them over.
He does not have to visit.

So to get a change in the visitation agreement, you go back to court and file to have the current ordered modified to where he only gets supervised visits.

Of course who does the supervision has to be decided also.

The courts may agree, at least to limited period for supervision, to allow child to get to know him again, for example, for the first 10 visits or something before allowing non supervised and so on.

The issue here is there is a court order in effect, if you file to take away some of his visits, he may decide to visit off and on, and enforce the current order. ( that is most likely what the attorney is concerned about) Also for legal terms, the fact he pays support is considered a form of contact, not physcial, but legal.

But you hire an attorney, what the attorney most likely understands, if the father fights it at this point, most likely the visit will stay as it is now. And even if the father does not fight it, it is still up to the opinion of the judge. So there is a good chance you may lose, you can try, but there is no sure thing.

Your ex cannot sign away his rights unless your husband is adopting period. This is the only way for a voluntary termination. If there is no visitation or custody order in place, then you don't have to let the child go with him were he to pop up. (Of course, this means that if he had the child, he doesn't have to give him/her back).

As your lawyer said, he isn't exercising his rights so why make a big deal out of it. You already have defacto sole custody of your child. You could file to formalize this, but you risk him trying to exercise his visitation rights in the process. He also has not abandoned the child if he has continued to pay support, although you can cite his lack of visitation as a reason for wanting sole custody. However, if he wants to file for visitation, I don't see a reason why he wouldn't get it. It may be more limited at first, and then gradually increase to more time, but as long as he is not a danger, a court will not stop him from seeing his child.

Ok I guess I wasn't clear enough. Sorry guys. We have joint custody. It was final end of Sept 08. He saw him a handful of times in a 5-6 mo period for three reasons. The reasons he gave were: Getting my money's worth. Shutting my girlfriend up. & I wanted to see you.

Shortly after his first birthday he stopped. Yes child support is a form of contact. Where I live according to a lawyer I spoke to "If there is any form of state assistance involved he can not sign away his rights. A judge will not go for it. It will not be in the best interest of the child for the child support and or medical support to stop." (I asked after my ex telling me his attorney told him that.)

My wanting to have limited supervised established is not in any way meant to push him in any direction. He is not happy about our son being on medicaid and wants me to drop it. I refused. I would like them to get to know each other but slowly in an environment that is safe and comfortable for my son.

Also he has wanted to sign away his rights since before my son was born. Tried to get me to have an abortion. Tried to get me to give him up for adoption at birth and two months later tried again to talk me into it.He DOES NOT want anything to do with his son. He only pays child support out of fear of being arrested. He has been trying to convince me to sign with him to sign away his rights for years. I don't think that him doing that is for the best. I just want it to be a safe environment if he ever does have a change of heart. Doubtful, but stranger things have happened I suppose.

As we previously mentioned, he cannot just sign away his rights. Even if, by some miracle he were allowed to do this, he would still have to pay support. Judges do not allow parents to voluntarily sever their legal relationship with their children unless there is someone else there (ie: a step-parent) to assume the role through an adoption. That is out of the question and not possible.

Again, you can petition to modify the visitation schedule or custody arrangement based on his not adhering to the order, but you cannot strip him of visitation rights altogether. You can ask that the visitation be supervised so that your child has an opportunity to get comfortable with, what is essentially, a stranger, but unless he is a danger, that won't last forever. Of course, if he agrees with your petition for sole custody, that would be a lot easier.