I have had custody of this 10 year old girl for the past 4 years and haven't received and support her father is in jail for attempted murder on a police officer my question is can o terminate the rights of her mother and father she hasn't seen either one

What is your relationship and how did you get custody, and was this custody though court.

And in the end, it will depend on where this is, In many places in the US, if the father is convicted and serving a long prison sentence you may get their rights taken away.

You did not say what murder the mother is convicted of ? What is the reason to take her rights away.

Also what and how did the custody happen

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Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

what is your relationship and how did you get custody, and was this custoidy though court.

And in the end, it will depend on where this is, In many places in the US, if the father is convicted and serving a long prison sentence you may get their rights taken away.

You did not say what murder the mother is convicted of ? what is the reason to take her rights away.

Also what and how did the custody happen

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I am not related to her her mother sighnedcustody over her mother is in north Dakota I live in Louisiana the reason I was asking is because the little girl wants us to adopt her

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Originally Posted by Mariansc1234

Only if they both sign their rights away legally in court, or you go to court and get a court order judgment against them from a judge, terminating their rights. I talked to a lawyer here and she said it would be no problem

You cannot terminate their parental rights legally without a court order, and/or they signed an official court paper, notarized, signing their rights away. You could probably be able to go in front of a judge and get them for desertion.abandonment. ???

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I talked to a lawyer here she said it would be no problem but she wants to charge 2500 for adoption too is that reasonable

2500 for an adoption, that is so cheap it scares me that it can not be right, adoptions esp if the bio parents fight it can go 10,000 to 15,000 very easy. I would guess the 2500 must just be a retainer to start the process.

But again, how did the mother sign over rights, which court was it in.

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Originally Posted by Mariansc1234

/or they signed an official court paper, notarized, signing their rights away. ?

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Can you provide a cite for that? As far as I'm aware a parent cannot just sign their rights away. Only a court can terminate a parents rights. A parent can sign an agreement to relinquish as part of a court case, but the court has to ratify it.

To gwinmcg40,
In this case, you have two things going for you. First the fact that you are wanting to adopt. Without that, forget the rest. Second, the father's criminal record.

If the attorney is charging you $2500 to complete the adoption that is not expensive. As part of the petition to adopt, the attorney will either get the parents agreement or get the courts to terminate.

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Originally Posted by Mariansc1234

Sure I can cite it, my ex brother in law signed papers, my sisters attorney gave her, relinquishing all custody rights, here in SC, so he wouldn't have to pay child support anymore. My sister took it in front of a judge and he signed off on it. Yeah it's that easy!

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First, by cite I meant actual statute. Second, I do not believe any judge would have terminated rights to allow the parent out of paying support. I'm sure there was more to that situation

In South Carolina, for the court to order that parental rights be terminated, the court must find clear and convincing evidence that termination is in the best interests of the child and must find that at least one of the eleven grounds has been proven by clear and convincing evidence.
http://childlaw.sc.edu/frmPublications/TPR%20Infopak%202011.pdf

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Originally Posted by Mariansc1234

Believe what you want, I seen and read the papers, and I went with her to court. In this court, it did go simple as that. He never visited the child, wouldn't pay child support. They both agreed upon it, and the judge granted it. So believe what you want. But, this post isn't about myself or sister, it's about the person who asked the question, so I am not getting into a back and forth debate, and messing up the post, trying to prove something to you.

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Giving advice to someone based on your own single experience with the court system is not usually helpful to someone else. If you are going to give advice, especially in the legal forums, you need to be able to back up that advice with legal citations.

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Originally Posted by Mariansc1234

Believe what you want, I seen and read the papers, and I went with her to court. In this court, it did go simple as that. He never visited the child, wouldn't pay child support. They both agreed upon it, and the judge granted it. So believe what you want. But, this post isn't about myself or sister, it's about the person who asked the question, so I am not getting into a back and forth debate, and messing up the post, trying to prove something to you.

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Well, then, how about proving it to me?

I realize you "seen" it with your own eyes, but this is contrary to law.

Where is this covered by law or are there other circumstances you are not revealing?

Everyone knows someone who knows someone who told them something that is contrary to law. It's quoting the law that counts, not who "seen" what.