Custody battle question?

Question

My boyfriend's ex wife was granted sole custody of their son. He was not paying child support and spent most of the time in and out of county jails. If he was to clean up his act and find a decent paying job, would he be able to petition the courts for visitations rights? Also, she is planning on marrying a new man, whom would legally adopt her son. Would my boyfriend be neglected of any rights, whatsoever, of his, when this takes place?

Answer 1

Unless your boyfriend has given up his parental rights, then I don't believe that the child can be adopted. I do think that he may be in a "too little too late" situation. He chose not to pay child support and chose to go to jail. What sort of role model is he going to be for the boy? What does he hope to achieve with visitation? If she has found someone to care for her and her son, why stand in the way of that?

Answer 2

First, the new husband would not be able to adopt the son until the parental rights of your BF were terminated. Either it would have to be proven he was an unfit father, or he would have to voluntarily relinquish his rights to the child. If the rights are terminated, that is what it means. He will have no rights to that child any longer, on paper he will no longer be a parent. A child can legally only have two parents.

If your BF can go prove he has changed his ways, then, yes, he can petition at anytime to have visitation. He will have to start paying and repaying child support, stay clean, out of jail, etc.

At first, the visitation would be short, and possibly supervised. As time went on, and the case was reviewed, the visitation would be changed.

Answer 3

There is still a chance for him, he would need to find a job that pays well and start paying off that child support for starters. Once he is paying child support, he can request visitations. Legally she will be obligated to comply if he is taking care of his financial responsibility. That is, if he has never been in for child abuse, domestic abuse...there would probably be additional steps if that is the case. maybe anger management, parenting classes would help him out...but mostly getting a job and paying off the child support is number one. The ex's new husband cannot legally adopt their son unless the father signs off on his rights or is found an unfit parent. good luck...he has a lot more rights than you think!! go to google and type in parents rights for the city/state you live in, you can get loads of information!!

Answer 4

CHILD CUSTODY--What Is the Balanced View? :
~ What Is in the Child's Best Interests?
~ Child Custody--Religion and the Law
~ Child Custody--A Balanced View
http://www.watchtower.org/library/g/1997/12/8/article_01.htm

The Problems of Children ... :
- An Ongoing Search for Solutions
- Children Deserve to be Wanted and Loved
- The Solution at Last!
- Help for Young People
- The UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child
http://www.watchtower.org/library/g/2000/12/8/article_01.htm

Answer 5

Yes, after cleaning up his act, he could file for visitation. Depending on why he was in jail, etc...he might only get supervised visitation.

The new husband can ONLY adopt child if bio dad gives up his rights to the child. That means no child support...and NO RIGHTS to see the child. Ever.

If he wants to stay in the child's life, he needs to pay child support, and file for visitation and NOT give up his rights. But ONLY suggest that if you truly believe he can be a positive force in that child's life.

Answer 6

Yes if he cleaned up his act for a period of time before petitioning, say like at least a year. THe biological father always has more right than the adopted father as long as the biological father isn't any harm to the child.

Answer 7

Your boyfriend will always be able to go to the courts and try to get some visitation. He should be making an effort to prove that he is a suitable parent (clean up his act), and begin to make support payments. If the judge sees that there is a genuine effort to be a good person and that he really wants to see the kids there is a good chance he'll get some visistation.

Answer 8

Your BF would have to give up his parental rights before her new husband was able to adopt the child.If your husband doesn't sign over custody of his child ,her husband can not adopt him. yes he can petition the court for visitation even if he owes back child support, as a matter of fact I highly suggest it. As the judge said to me (mother) visitation and child support are to separate orders and I order you to give him the children on his visitation days. The reason the judge told me this is I was in contempt of court for not letting my children go with there father on his visitation days, because he hadn't paid court ordered child support.And let me tell you the judge was none to happy with me. She said child support does not interfere with his visitation rights they are to different orders. Go figure.Good luck.And tell him to get an order to see those kids asap.

Answer 9

yes, he could petition for visitaion rights. he would almost certainly be required to pay child support at that time also.

the mother's future husband could not adopt the child without the father's permission, unless the state had severed all rights to the father. simply getting sole custody by the mother does not do this.

Answer 10

well that is a tuff question. mainly because the law is different in each state. but basically i know from personal experiences, even if he is in and out of jail. all he has to do is prove paternity to the courts even if his son was legally adopted once paternity is proven, he has fathers rights.