[CFulfer1991]

Here's the store; when my daughter was born the bio dad never signed the birth certificate, acknowledgement of paternity, or even paid child support. Since day 1 he has never been there. I never took him to court for child support and I now have no contact with him or even have the slightest idea where he might be. That was 5 years ago and I am now married and my husband and I have been talking about putting him on the birth certificate so he could legally be his in case anything was to happen.
We were told that as long as none of those things were completed than it should be no problem amending it. We were also told that after 5 years of no communication, no visitation, and no financial support then the bio dad has legally abandoned the child and this would help because now we don't have to ask him to sign away his rights.
I need to know if this info is correct.

[AK lawyer]

.. We were told that as long as none of those things were completed than it should be no problem amending it. We were also told that after 5 years of no communication, no visitation, and no financial support then the bio dad has legally abandoned the child and this would help because now we don't have to ask him to sign away his rights.
I need to know if this info is correct.

Yes and no. What you were told (that you can simply amend the birth certificate by getting your husband to sign an affidavit of paternity, I assume), is not true. Depending on where you are, too much time may have passed since the child was born. More importantly, your husband would be committing perjury (a crime) were he to sign such an affidavit.

But he can adopt the child, which would ultimately have the same effect (including an amended BC). Contact an attorney to do it right.

[J_9]

You can't just "put" your husband on the birth certificate. He will need to legally adopt her. Depending on where you live, it may be necessary that you make a due and diligent search for the birth father so that he can terminate his parental rights. He doesn't have to be named on the birth certificate to have parental rights.

[ScottGem]

I'm curious as to where you were told this stuff. As noted it is mostly untrue. However, laws vary by area, and maybe some of it is true for your area. But since you neglected to say where you are, we can't tell (Any question on law needs to include your general locale as laws vary).

For your husband to become your daughter's legal father, he will, most likely, have to petition your local Family court to adopt her. In most areas I know of, the court will require that you make a good faith effort to contact the bio father, confirm paternity (since he isn't on the birth certificate) and get his agreement to allow the adoption. If he can't be found, it is likely the court will still grant the adoption because of the abandonment. But they will still want you to try.

You NEED an attorney for this. So start shopping around for one.

[cdad]

Lets just say that there 5 year no contact rule is true. Here is what you have against it. You NEVER established the bio father as the legal father. Therefore there is no timeline restriction. The reason why it is like that is because many women would in fact hide a pregnancy and then deny the bio father rights to the child by the 5 year rule. That is why the father of the child MUST be established first.

[ScottGem]

As cdad mentioned by not included the father on the birth certificate, you have actually made this MORE complicated. By not legally establishing paternity, you may have done your daughter a disservice by not getting support you were entitled to.

I don't know the circumstances so you may have had good and valid reasons for doing what you did. But now you have to deal with the consequences of those actions (or lack thereof). You need to to prove that you have tried to give the bio father his rights and that he has refused to exercise them.