[mandajo]

My daughters father is in prison AGAIN and now after 3 yrs he wants to sign over his rights and I am not sure what I should do? We have fought about the rights part of it for a long time and he never would but all of a sudden he wants to my family thinks its because of the girlfriend or whatever she is she is due in jan with his 3rd child from what I understand from her is that he wants to sign over all rights to his other kids but hers another catch to all this is that I am still legally married to him my boyfriend would take my daughter as his own but I don't know if that's the right decesion so what do I do with what's presented to me and if I should go through with this all and let him get out of his resposibilities does anyone know how much this is going to cost me and how I go about getting over all of this I am sorry that this is kind of long but needed 2 let you in on some of it

[TexasParent]

I don't know a lot about the legalities of the issues before you, but if the father ever gets out of prison and starts to earn a living, then you should retain the right to have him pay child support at the very least. (I'm not sure if he signs over his rights that he is no longer responsible for child support). If by signing over his rights it allows you to make easier decisions with regard to your daughter which normally require both parents approval, I would consider it if he is going to be in prison for a long time.

However, just because he's in prison doesn't make him a bad father. Does he love his daughter? Do both of you get alone fine? Can he be trusted to work with you when it comes to making decisions with regard to her?

As for your boyfriend, remember he is a boyfriend and may not be around forever. However, your daughters dad will be her dad forever whether he signs his rights away or not. Someday he will have to answer to her as to why he signed his rights away. Is he doing this because he thinks it's in your and your daughters best interest, or does he gain something (like no child support) by doing it?

Please explain why this is a good thing or a bad thing.

[Fr_Chuck]

If you state allows rights to be taken away becauase of long term prison time, then you can do it. This is a state by state issue,

[mandajo]

We don't get a long all that well and he is not a person who I can trust as for making decesions about her and for her he has never been there he will be gone for 5 years he had a paternity test done so he would not have to take finiacial responsibility for her but he knew that she was his I don't know what his reasons are but he wants me to get him the papers asap I have said that I wanted to talk to him and find out what the deal is but I don't think that I will get my wish if its not on his end its on the bfs the only phone he would be able to call me on is the phone my boyfriend got for me

[div2wice]

First you need to divorce your current husband, that is only making things more difficult.
Second, from my understanding a parent cannot just "sign over his rights' because he no longer wants the kids, it doesn't work that way. From what I know, a parent can only sign over his/her rights if the child is being given up for adoption, or if a step-parent adoption is wanted.
Your boyfriend cannot legally adopt her until you both are married, and that isn't possible if you're still married to the biological father.
It doesn't sound like you're in a really stable and or serious relationship so marriage would not be the best idea at this time.
You need to tell your current husband, the bio father, that he cannot sign over his rights. Its illegal.