Michele A. Zavos's Answers

Step Father last name added to step child's birth cerrtificate or gaining some type of legal guardinship for step daughter?

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...

6 people marked this answer as helpful

Guardianship and birth father's rights when the child doe not carry his last name

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...

Terminating rights to allow 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....

2 people marked this answer as helpful

Sisters right to adoption

First, I am not your attorney, so I can only answer your question in a general way. To get a specific answer from an attorney in your state of Indiana, please go to the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys website to find someone experience in this area of the law. Your sister does have the right to make her own placement plan for her baby. It would be extremely difficult for you to interfere with that plan as a parent has the right to decide what is best for their child. However, if...

1 person marked this answer as helpful

Problems with Probate

Normally when a married couple purchases real property together (your parent's house), they are both on the deed as tenants by the entireties, which is a way of holding real property that is specific to married couples. However, if your mother doesn't have a copy of the recorded deed, the first thing you should do is go to your county or city Recorder of Deeds and see if she is on the deed. If not, there are some facts missing here. If she is not an owner of the house (as evidenced by the...

1 person marked this answer as helpful

Terminating Biological Father's Rights (Oklahoma)

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....

1 person marked this answer as helpful

Adoption by step parent

As I don't practice in New Mexico, I can only give you a general answer regarding fees for a step parent adoption. First, if the non-custodial parent is agreeable, the cost will be significantly less than if he or she objected to the adoption. Although you may be able to do this yourself if your court has available forms, I recommend you have a lawyer take the non-custodial parent's consent. You don't want that person coming back and saying he or she didn't understand what they were doing....

Can a single parent adopt?

You have asked a very general question that is not state specific, so I can give you an answer. Single individuals are not prevented from adopting a child, although I am not familiar with the laws in every state. The real challenge is to work with a public or private agency that will be supportive of how you want to build your family. Don't reinvent the wheel. Be sure to talk to someone, usually an attorney, who can point you to a public or private agency that works with single individuals....

Help, Steps to getting my husband adopting my daughter

I do not practice in New Mexico, so I can only give you general information. It seems to me that you are asking two things: 1) Can your husband adopt your daughter, and 2) Can you change your daughter's last name. For the change of name, you probably can do that on your own. However, I would recommend that you do the step-parent adoption as your husband is really your daughter's father. During the course of the adoption you can change her last name. In order to have your husband adopt...

Step-parent adoption

As I don't practice in New Mexico, where I assume you will file the step-parent adoption, it is impossible for me to give you an actual figure. However, that being said, attorneys generally bill for this kind of work in two ways - either flat fee or by the hour. The most important thing here is that you go to an EXPERIENCED adoption attorney. Many attorneys will tell you they can represent you in this type of case as it does not sound like it will be contested. But, you need someone who...