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hatz06 · Nov 10, 2008, 04:27 PM

A friend of mine was forced to sign away his parental rights to his son, who is now 8 yrs old. He lives in Arizona, and the mother now lives in Iowa. Is it possible for him to get his parental rights back, and what steps does he need to take?

cadillac59 · Nov 10, 2008, 04:50 PM

How was he "forced" to sign away parental rights?

Reversing this might be impossible (has the child been adopted?). Sounds like a fairly tough one but impossible to answer without more information. If he was really forced (like with a gun to his head or through extortion attempts) to sign over his rights, there's probably some sort of constitutional argument, but again it's hard to say without knowing more.

liz28 · Nov 10, 2008, 04:58 PM

What age was the child when he signed his rights away and was it done in a court?

hatz06 · Nov 10, 2008, 04:59 PM

I'm not sure what all the details were, but all I do know is that her family was friends with the judge. He wasn't forced by gunpoint obviously, but they pushed things to the point where he felt he had no choice at the time. The mother is not married, but I do not believe the new husband adopted him. I'm not really sure. If there is any route he can take to get any visitation with his kid, please help! Thanks!

cadillac59 · Nov 10, 2008, 05:49 PM

If he's lost his parental rights he's just a non-parent now and has no visitation rights. Again, without knowing more it's hard to say.

cdad · Nov 10, 2008, 08:04 PM

We need to know what documents he signed and when ( meaning before or after birth ) he signed anything that shows he gave up his rights.

Sometimes you can have no rights ( those being legal or physical ) and still be liable for child support. If he's in that situation then he still has ties to the child. So we need to know exactly what it is he signed.

macksmom · Nov 10, 2008, 08:07 PM

If he relinquished his rights he is no longer the legal father and has no rights to the child. I would bet that the husband did in fact adopt the child because in most states a parent cannot relinquish their rights unless there is someone to adopt the child in their place. So the husband is now the legal father.