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I only filed to adopt my step son last year. My dh had filed to transfer the jurisdiction of the case from TX to TN where he was living in Dec. 1997. Every time he would try to have her served, she would move. Then when he was finally able to serve her, she did nothing and it just sat until we got married in 1999. We decided to go ahead and file to terminate her parental rights and then I would file to adopt my step son. We were finally able to serve her in June of 2002 and she retained an atty and filed a response on the day of her deadline. Then she decided not to use her atty any more, but didn't have the common courtesy to tell him. So, he had to enter a motion in court to have himself removed from the case. We finally get a hearing for Sept. 2003 and she actually shows up, but was able to hire an atty in the parking lot and got the case postponed. We had a hearing set for Feb. 2004, but a week before our hearing, the TN Supreme Court ruled that the only way a parent's rights could be terminated was if there was a step-parent adoption taking place or if the DCS decided the children were not safe with the parents. So that hearing was cancelled. I filed to adopt him at that time. She was finally served with the papers in May of 2004 and had until June of 2004 to file her response. She missed the deadline and a default judgement hearing was scheduled, but her atty finally filed her response to the adoption petition in July of 2004 (a month after her deadline). We were able to get her up here for a deposition in October of 2004, but before we could go any further than that, I was placed on complete bed rest due to complications with my pregnancy. Our daughter was born in November of 2004, but passed away shortly after her birth. We finally met with our atty about 3 wks ago and he filed all of our motions that were supposed to be heard yesterday, but the hearing was cancelled. Now we will go before the judge in April. My atty told her atty that the hearing will take place on that date regardless of whether or not she can make it. So we shall see what happens then.
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