[ezlyamused1]

Hi. I have a friend whose husband agreed with the mother of his child to terminate all parental rights, and did so some years ago (in North Carolina). They have heard from a mutual friend that she is making noises about taking him back to court in an effort to receive child support from him. Is this possible after his parental rights have already been legally terminated? Thanks much.

[stevetcg]

I highly doubt his rights were legally terminated unless the kid was adopted by her husband.

Edited to add: if the child WAS adopted, he is absolved of his support requirement. Chances are though, there was nothing legal done to terminate his rights since this is a highly unlikely thing for a court to do without major cause like him being a convicted child molester.

[ezlyamused1]

Actually he did it twice. Once nearthe beginning, per the mother's request, he signed the papers she provided. Then again, when the child started school at age five, to change the child's last name to match that of the mother's new husband, he had to go through it again and sign more papers. It is believed the original papers were not notarized or filed correctly and that is why he had to go through it again. He did this as he thought it was in the best interest of the child, who is now eleven, and he has not seen or had contact with in 8 years.

[stevetcg]

Actually he did it twice. Once nearthe beginning, per the mother's request, he signed the papers she provided. Then again, when the child started school at age five, to change the child's last name to match that of the mother's new husband, he had to go through it again and sign more papers. It is believed the original papers were not notarized or filed correctly and that is why he had to go through it again. He did this as he thought it was in the best interest of the child, who is now eleven, and he has not seen or had contact with in 8 years.

That's not terminating his rights. That sounds more like he gave her full custody without visitation. That is very different than terminating his rights.

Your friend will very likely be subject to paying support and it sounds a lot like he was duped into believing the child's mother's lies/misinformation. It is also possible that he confused giving up custody with giving up rights.

[ezlyamused1]

I've told him he better find a copy of whatever he signed and make sure he knows what it is. It was her that wanted him to do this to begin with - he fought at the beginning for visitation and did pay support until she started returning his checks and refusing to schedule time for visits. (She lives two states away.) He is not sure if the child was legally adopted by the step-father or not. Thanks very much for your time.

[ScottGem]

Actually he did it twice. Once nearthe beginning, per the mother's request, he signed the papers she provided. Then again, when the child started school at age five, to change the child's last name to match that of the mother's new husband, he had to go through it again and sign more papers.

What I suspect happened was she got a form someplace (probably online) and had him sign that. She then took it to court and the court told her they won't grant a TPR even if they both want it. So she just dropped it without telling him.

Then, when the kid started school, she wanted a name change so she sent him more papers. Now, depending on how she did this, he may have just agreed to the name change and not to terminating his rights.

Courts are VERY reluctant to grant TPRs and will generally do so only to clear the way for an adoption or to protect the child from the parent.

He needs to contact Family Court where they lived and ask for any cases involving the child. He needs to know exactly what was done.

If, in the unlikely event that his rights were terminated, then he will not be subject to child support (see GS_7B-1112). A TPR in NC terminates both rights and obligations. Another reason a court was unlikely to have issued a TPR.

[Fr_Chuck]

But even if somehow his rights were terminated by the court, yes it is very possible that he will still owe support, only when there is an adoption does the obligation go away, rights and obligations are two separate issues