Looking for advice on what to do. I dont even know where to begin or what my options are. I have an 8 year old whos biological father hasn’t been in her life since she was a year old. He has been in and out of jail for possesion charges since then.
Only thing linking her to that person is her last name thst i desperately want to change.
I am married now to a man who has raised her as his own. I had met with a lawyer a few years ago and he said it would be about 4k just to start and didnt seem to offer more help than that.
I was wondering if there was any sort of abandonment law for this that would terminate his rights?
Also, We were never married, and there is no “custody agreement” when she was a new born and we were together, the state tried to sue him for the medicaid she was receiving so i told them that we live together, which we were at the time, so they wouldnt pursue him for the money.
We went to mediation when she was 6 months old, signed an agreement but apparently it was never filed? Not sure on that.
Thanks for any advice!
NAL check ur state abandonment laws. But also if he would sign away his rights then that is a good first step…BUT usually a judge wont allow the termination unless someone is willing to step in and adopt…so ur husband could do that…then when the adoption is done, then you can have a clause in there to have name changed. If you are unable to afford that process, you usually need Dads permission for the name change, if though there is no court documents…hes been established as the father on BC and thru the medicaid system…so he is legally tied to her. Does he pay any support? When was the last time you spoke to him? Every state has diff laws and procudures…so youll want to consult a local custody atty or even legal aid may be able to amswer just some of the simpler questions about the abandonement laws and whats required. 4k probaly is because the lawyer was going to try and do the terminate rights via volunteering, and process ur husband to adopt and replace bio dad on BC…but its hard to tell…lawyers cost alot and when its more complicated like this, absent dad, new spouse, no court orders…it does take alot of work. See if legal aid, can clarify whats steps to take if abandonment is an option and if not what forms/steps to take to terminate his rights if he would and start an adoption from ur husband etc