[Josaphine1978]

I have a daughter that is now 10 years old. Her Bio father has not had anything to do with her since she was two years old. His paternity was established when she was an infant and the AG has been after him for child support for years now. He owes close to 30K now. He is in and out of jails and prisons and I never have contact with him unless the AG tracks him down and he decides to show up for court. I want to terminate his rights and give her my last name. Can I legally do this without his consent and will it cost me a lot?

[stinawords]

No you can not do this... especially with out his concent. Are you remarried to a man that wants to adopt? If so the bio dad may be willing to sign to allow the adoption because that is generally the only way a TPR will be granted. Read some of the other hundreds of threads on this same issue and you will learn a lot.

[Fr_Chuck]

Well actually you may be able to, sorry stinawords this is one of the few exceptions we don't mention often. Some states, but not all, remember in the US custody is a state issue and there is no federal law on this. So in some states, if the person has had longer term prison sentences, and each state has their own rulings on this, you may ask for his rights to be terminated without his concent

[stinawords]

I did think of that but since he has been "in and out" I didn't figure he was in long enough. It would help knowing what state she is in.

[Josaphine1978]

Ah sorry I forgot to let you know I am in Texas.