[APRIL7623]

My husband wants to adopt my 9 year old son. The father has never been around and the Attorney General's office tried to track him down for 2 years after the birth of my child. They finally closed the case and I called a lawyer today and they quoted me $5000. Which I don't have! Does anybody have any information or experience with this in Harris County? I have called the District Clerk's office and they act like they don't know what I am talking about.

Thanks!

[InBlindFaith]

Call around to family law attorneys. Not all of them charge the same. Some of them will let you pay out the retainer.

Good luck!!

[rsbg]

I don't have experience in Harris county, but we just completed a step-parent adoption in Texas. We are in Rockwall county, east of Dallas. I know each county has different requirements. I've heard of some counties not requiring a home study, some that do (even though the home study is supposed to be a state requirement, not a county requirement???). So I will tell you how ours went.

Bio father has not been in the picture since my son was 3. He is 14 now. No contact, no child support, nothing. My hubby has been in the picture since my son was 2. It is almost like he knew my son was being taken care of, so he just disappeared off the face of the earth (which was FINE by me!). We JUST completed our step-parent adoption on 5/1/07.

They had to terminate parental rights first. I had found my "x" so he signed papers, as this is something my son was requesting at this point in his life. If you can't find the bio father, then I think they can publish in a newspaper for a certain amount of time. So first the parental rights need to be terminated and then the step-parent adoption can take place. Because it was a voluntary relinquishment of rights, the Attorney filed everything all at one time.

To me, $5,000 is HIGH! The main expenses were the home study and the Attorney's fees. This is how our expenses were:

$650 Attorneys fees (which is pretty low from what I've been told)
$750 home study fee
$280 filing fee
$50 birth ceritificate fee
and some other fee????

Ours ended up costing us around $2,000. Still a LOT of money, but not $5,000! I would call around some more, that just sounds high to me.

It was a fairly simple process in our case. We had signed relinquishment papers on 3/19/07, had our home study completed, met with Attorney, and adoption finalized on 5/1/07. Very simple!

I've blabbed enough.... good luck! I hope someone from Harris co can have more answers for you.

[APRIL7623]

Thank you for your replies, it is always good to get others opinions and advice that have already been there!

[InBlindFaith]

I'm in Collin County (north of Dallas)

My ex is contesting (well after the TPR went into default). So our costs are a lot higher. Our Ad Litum was waived, but we did have the Homestudy done and DH had his background check completed.

In the beginning I was told if we can terminate/adopt without a fight it could be as low as $1,800. If he decides to fight and we go to trial (which we are) it can be as high at $20,000.

If you find an attorney you are comfortable with request a break down of costs...for best case and worst case scenario. It's always good to be prepared upfront.