[Mommi]

My ex and I have discussed it, and he has agreed to sign over rights so that my husband of 4 years can adopt my child. His only caveat was that I figure out how to do it and help him through the process. I have contacted the lawyer that does normal paper work for me, but he doesn't know family law, and the family law lawyer in their office may take a few days to respond. I'd love some information to take to my ex now so that he has a chance to process the information before we begin the process.

My questions are these:

How do we prove that my husband would like to adopt? Is there a legal form?

Does my ex need to sign over rights in front of a judge, or will a notarized document enough?

Will my ex be liable for child support between the time that he signs over rights and my husband is able to finalize the adoption? Child support is collected by the state and then paid to me.

What protections are there for my ex? Does he have any rights after he has signed over rights but before my husband has signed the adoption decree?

Is there such a thing as only partially signing over rights? Something my lawyer mentioned made me wonder.

My child is 8, and I don't know if that will affect any visitation or such after the adoption since my ex and my ex's family have been in his life for the past few years.

Does my ex's family have any rights in this matter? If his wife, his ex-wife, his mother or anyone else objects to his signing over rights, is there anything legally that they can do about it? Can they force him to keep rights?

Thank you for any and all answers

[Fr_Chuck]

Ok, hire an attorney, this is not something you can do by yourself.

Your attorney will draw up the adoption paper work, along with this will be paper work that the bio father will sign. It can be done in front of a notary and file with your adoption paper work. The judge will know your husband wants to adopt, since he with you and the child will appear in court and may be questioned briefly by the judge. You and husband also sign the paper work submitted.

The bio fathers parents may have rights to visit, but that depends on the state you are from ( in the US) some allow grandparents rights. They can not stop the adoption, but may be given rights to visit if they file for it.

[Mommi]

I have contacted a lawyer, but I'm waiting for info from the person in their office that does family law before I formally hire them, I know better than to go it alone. Thank you for the info!