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bay90 · Oct 12, 2008, 01:28 PM

I have a little girl and I plan on getting married in the near future. My fiancé and I have already talked about it and he wants to adopt her. We have no contact with her biological father and I have not seen him in almost 3 years. He has called sparatically and has not tried to help at all I did not put him on the birth certificate and he has never even seen her since she was born. Does he have rights to her? And will I have to get him to sign over his rights for my fiancé to adopt her? I just don't want to run into any problems when we are trying to get this all figured out and done with! Please help I'm really confused and I don't know what to do or who to ask!

stinawords · Oct 12, 2008, 02:34 PM

You will have to get a lawyer (they are required for all adoptions). However, because her father is not on the birth certificate he is not her legal father therefore has no rights to sign over. Though you should know that a judge isn't likely to grant the adoption with out first contacting the bio dad to get him in court so the judge can order a DNA test have it come back positive and then he can sign over his rights. This is just because with out him having rights if he were to want to come back later in a few years and contest the adoption he would have a good chance of winning because he was never given the chance to say no and have a part in his child's life. If he does not want to agree to the adoption you can go after child support and he will either change his tune or get visistation ordered by the court.

JudyKayTee · Oct 12, 2008, 02:49 PM

Originally Posted by bay90

i have a little girl and i plan on getting married in the near future. my fiance and i have already talked about it and he wants to adopt her. we have no contact with her biological father and i have not seen him in almost 3 years. he has called sparatically and has not tried to help at all i did not put him on the birth certificate and he has never even seen her since she was born. does he have rights to her? and will i have to get him to sign over his rights for my fiance to adopt her? i just dont want to run into any problems when we are trying to get this all figured out and done with! please help im really confused and i dont know what to do or who to ask!

In most States you can do nothing until you have been in a stable marriage of a year or longer - otherwise, it's all been said.

Fr_Chuck · Oct 12, 2008, 04:16 PM

Yes to all of the above. In most cases you will have to contact the bio father, prove he is the father though DNA, and get him to sign the rights over.
And normally you will have to be married for a year first.