[amilnes]

My wife and I were married back in NOV 2002 and she had a son at the time. Since he was 6 months old he has known me as his Dad. He is now 3. The natural father was in jail at the time and got out in SEP 03. He was in jail for drugs and auto theft. His family then proceeded to have him take us to court to get rights to the child. His name does not appear on the birth certificate and there are no records of him as the natural father. He and my wife were never married or anything like that. They only dated. The courts told him that he would have to prove that he was the father through a paternity test that he would have to pay for. We had the test done in NOV 03 and he has failed to pay for it. He said that he was not going to pay for it. Since he pays no child support and has not ben proven as the father I understand that I can take it to court and adopt my stepson by having the courts remove the assumption that he was/is the father. Is this right? Also along the same lines, my stepson has my wifes maiden name and we would like to change her son's name to our married name. Can we do this without notifying the "natural father" or does he have to give consent? The natural father lives in Texas and we reside in Georgia.

Thanks,
Andrew

[Step2Adopt]

No expert, of course. But to me it sounds like you could get his rights terminated based on abandoment since its been at least 2.5 yrs.

But he has to prove that hes the father first, and as of yet he hasnt.

Talk to a lawyer, but I think you got a really good case.

[gingeranne]

Your situation sounds so similar to mine its almost eerie! I moved from Texas to Georgia & left my child’s biological father behind in Texas. He had no involvement in my child’s life & is not on the birth certificate. In Georgia, I remarried & my husband is now in the process of adopting my son.
In ‘legal’ terms, the Texas biological father is the “punitive” father. (Punitive is the same as saying he is the named father. A legal father is the person that is married to the mother at the time of the child’s birth or the father that is named on the birth certificate.) In your situation the Texas father is also the putative father, so technically at this point he has no legal ties to your step-child.

Prior to the adoption, we changed my child’s last name (3 years ago) to my married last name from my maiden last name. We contacted an attorney, and he sent the legal documents to my child’s biological father & he was served by a Texas sheriff officer. Fortunately, he did not respond…According to our attorney, due to the fact that he never financially supported my child, had ever established paternity, or ever established his name on the birth certificate it is considered “abandonment”, and we were granted our name change in a Georgia court. After the name change, I took the court order to the social security office & had my child's name changed for social security purposes too. The whole process cost approximately $300.
It was my understanding that if the biological father protested the legal name change, he would have to establish paternity at his on expense, prove himself competent to parent, establish child support and that the judge would also look into the best interest of the child. (My child was five & only new my husband as the father.)
Personally, it looks to me like your child was "abandoned" by the Texas father & you've got a really good case.

I wish you & your family the best!
Keep the board posted to let us know how it turns out!