Michele A. Zavos’s Answers

Hello - I am a MD attorney so can answer your question in accordance with MD law. There are several issues you have raised: 1) Can you change your daughter's last name to your husband's? 2) Can you have your husband obtain guardianship of your daughter without obtaining permission from her birth father? 3) Can your husband adopt your daughter without finding her birth father? Here are my general answers without knowing more specifics about your situation. 1) Most likely you can change...

As a MD attorney, I am able to answer your question with respect to MD law. The birth father and birth mother have the same legal rights to custody and visitation, and the same responsibilities under the law to provide child support for your great granddaughter (that is your relationship to the child, correct?). However, if your granddaughter is worried about the child's safety, she can raise that with a court if the birth father brings a visitation action. Although the birth father has a...

The laws of Oklahoma will control your husband's petition for adoption. You disclose that your daughter's birth father has had not contact with her for three years and has not supported her financially. If he did so voluntarily (he wasn't in jail), then he has essentially given up his parental relationship with her. If your husband has acted as the child's father, supporting her both emotionally and financially, he should be able to adopt her, even over her birth father's objection....

If a legal adoption of your child was finalized, you can't change your mind. There are certain circumstances, under specific state laws, where an adoption can be reversed for fraud, duress, or mistake. If something like that happened, most states require that issue to be raised within one year after the adoption is finalized. But, if the adoption has taken place, and you have had a change of heart, the adoption will not be reversed. However, you should consult a Texas lawyer to be sure this...

If his daughter was legally adopted by the child's maternal grandparents, your fiancee has no rights or responsibilities to the child. He cannot be sued for child support, just as he cannot sue for visitation. The child is a legal stranger to him.

You are asking about a step-parent adoption for your daughter. The laws of Kansas would apply to your husband's Petition for Adoption. Most likely, under Kansas law, given your daughter's age, she will have to formally consent to the adoption. It's also possible that your daughter's birth father will voluntarily consent to your husband's step-parent adoption. If he doesn't voluntarily consent. your husband should be able to go into court and obtain the step-parent adoption. Your daughter'...

Birth parents have the same rights and responsibilities to their child. If you want custody of this child, and don't want the child adopted, you can refuse to consent to the adoption. However, you can't make your ex keep the child. Your choice appears to be that you either take custody of the child or consent to the adoption. If you tell your ex you want custody of the child, be prepared for her to say that in that event she wants to keep the child. Then you have a custody dispute and a...

You are asking about a step-parent adoption where the birth father will not consent. A court will twaive the birth father's consent to in an adoption, which essentially terminate his parental rights ,when he has not grasped his "opportunity interest" to become a parent. That means he has not developed a relationship with his child and has not supported the child. Even if the birth father does not consent, generally a court will waive his consent to the step-parent adoption in these...

Yes, you can proceed with the step-parent adoption by your husband. Your son's birth father does not appear to have grasped his "opportunity interest" to create and maintain a relationship with your son. Michigan law would control the decision in your case as you live in Michigan. However, if a birth parent has not supported a child, and has not obtained and maintained a relationship with a child, generally a court will terminate that birth parent's rights and grant a step-parent adoption....

Your adoption would proceed under North Carolina law since your are North Carolina residents and your son lives with you. Several things are in play here. One, your son may have to formally consent to the adoption if North Carolina law requires it. Generally, when a legal parent does not support a child, does not maintain a relationship with a child, and essentially "abandons" his relationship with the child, a court will terminate that parent's parental rights in a step-parent adoption....