Can a man terminate his parental rights and if so does he still have to pay child support?

Question

My ex wants to terminate his parental rights of our unborn child. Does he still have an obligation to support his child financially?

Answer 1

I'm not an attorney but my take on this is that he has an obligation to support his child provided you want him to.

I don't know whether he can unilaterally terminate his parental rights, but I do know that it would be difficult to find a court that would not order the payment of child support. If your state always collects child support from paychecks, then you stand a good chance of getting it. My son's father had a stable career that became unstable when the court ordered child support to be deducted from his paycheck. He lost three positions and was unemployed for several months. He of course filed to have the support reduced. In my state a fellow can use drugs on the job, be fired for cause and then have his child support reduced. In my case, the father claimed that he now had a home business and filed to reduce child support to 60% of what he was paying.

My guess on termination is that the court would order him to pay child support and that would preclude him from terminating his parental rights, but I'm not totally sure of this.

My state has an online child support calculator. States vary widely in the amount of child support they award. You may want to make sure that you really need the support amount ordered by your state. Sometimes the amount is very low.

In my state, both parents have the right to make decisions for the child. When you differ, you can end up back in court. There are parents in court quite frequently. This is very costly and can be more costly than the child support.

Also in my state, the visitation parent is awarded liberal visitation whether he uses it or not. My son's dad married an unstable woman with unstable children who are all older than my son. The eldest was charged with drug possession at school. He was using his visitation at that time and my son was exposed and still is exposed to losers! I should add that my son's dad had no interest in my son when he was born. As circumstances change with these men, so does their interest in their children. When they marry a woman with children or they find out the woman is infertile, all of a sudden they want your child. You may be single, they may be married and suddenly in the eye of the court, it looks like it is in the best interest of the child to be with dad.

When my son's dad took off for another state, I had to pay half of the cost to fly my son for visitations. There went much of the child support.

When I moved from a county that doesn't award back child support to one that does, my son's father tried to sue me in the court of the first county in an attempt to wipe away his back child support obligation. The court case cost more than the back child support. I had to fight tooth and nail to collect the back child support award as he transferred his assets into his sibling's names.

In contrast to my situation, I know a woman that collects child support on a monthly basis and the father of her son has never had any contact whatsoever.

I never took my son's dad to court because it wasn't worth it to me to collect the child support. Peace of mind was more important to me. So, termination of parental rights with no child support looks like a great deal to me. You might ask for a lump settlement to be paid now to cover all future child support while agreeing to a termination of parental rights. Just like war, you never know how these court battles are going to turn out and you have nineteen years of this. I was told that I should have kept my mouth shut and should have moved to another state.

Answer 2

Sorry Champ, Child Support is a non negotiable issue.You
See the law has always seem the man as the "Bread Winner"
and provider for his Family. So Even if you terminate your
parental rights, you still have to support that child until the
age of 18 or unless the child has the ability to declare
Emancipation

Answer 3

If he is the child's father, and a test will prove it, NO, he can't terminate his right or his obligations. The courts determine what is best for the child, and he will be obligated to pay support monies. To have rights terminated, requires a court hearing and charges such as abuse or abandonment will be presented by the state. He may be sent to jail for failure to pay for the child he fathered. Don't let this guy bully you, the state where you live will have legal protection for you and his child. Too bad he is such an idiot, next time make a better choice, and take birth control meds. Best wishes

Answer 4

Termination of parental rights has to be approved by a judge. Generally speaking, they will only approve it if it’s for the purpose of adoption or the parent is unfit/a danger to the child. Men CANNOT terminate their rights to get out of paying child support. If they could, men (and women too) would be lining up to do it, and the welfare system would be overwhelmed with the need for the taxpayers to support these children.

Answer 5

Yes, a man can terminate all rights to the child. Which means that they have no rights to that child even visitation and taxes. They will not have to pay child support if they do terminate. I do know what the court considers to be a reason for termination, but I do know that my brother's oldest son's father did this so that my brother could adopt him. I have a friend who almost terminated rights. This was not for the purpose of adoption. Check with a lawyer in you area. Each state has different laws. Good luck.

Answer 6

He has to wait until the child is born to terminate parental rights. After that, he is no longer obligated to pay child support.

Answer 7

nope! either way he will have to pay, there is no ecaping child support, besides its up to the judge. if the judge says he cant give up rights, he has no choice. but either way he has to pay!!!!!! its just like men trying to get out of supporting there own child,well tough they cant unless the judge says so.

Answer 8

LMAO!!! i love when dudes try this one to get out of child support... you see, years ago, they allowed that.

today, the courts wont allow a parent to sign away his rights unless there is someone willing to adopt the child (such as your new spouse in the future).

today, CHILD SUPPORT IS til the child is 18-21 (depending upon the state) and may be longer if the child goes to college. today, child support arrears (money owed) is FOREVER.

GONE are the days of hiding til the child reaches 18.

here are some links; save them, your gonna need 'em.
---------------
CHILD SUPPORT CALCULATOR
http://www.alllaw.com/calculators/childsupport/

YOUR STATES CS POLICY
http://childsupportcenter.org/stateprofiles.php

ABANDONMENT (NO SHOW PARENTS)
http://www.alllaw.com/articles/family/

NOT ALL PARENTS LOVE THEIR CHILDREN
And "RATIONAL LIES"
http://www.alllaw.com/articles/family/child_custody/article7.asp

FREE LEGAL HELP IN YOUR STATE
(just click on your state to find contact info)
http://www.lawhelp.org/

LAWS
http://www.divorcehq.com/spprtgroups.html
http://www.divorceinfo.com/statebystate.htm
http://www.divorcenet.com/states
http://www.divorcesource.com/
http://www.divorcesource.com/info/deadbeat/deadbeat.shtml
http://www.divorcecentral.com/
http://family.findlaw.com/
http://law.onecle.com/new-jersey/ (change the state to yours)
http://family.findlaw.com/child-support/unpaid-support/support-orders-enforcement.html
http://www.divorcehq.com/deadbeat.html
http://www.divorceinanutshell.com/
http://www.lawchek.com/Library1/_books/domestic/qanda/childsupp.htm
http://family.findlaw.com/child-support/support-laws/state-child-/
http://www.supportguidelines.com/resources.html
http://www.supportguidelines.com/links.html
http://www.supportguidelines.com/laypersons.html
http://www.supportguidelines.com/articles/news.html
http://family.findlaw.com/child-support/support-basics/
http://www.spiesonline.net/deadbeat.shtml
http://www.childsupport-aces.org/index2.html

STATS
http://www.childsupport-aces.org/acesstatistics.html

FINDING DEADBEATS
(and background cks to find them)
http://www.usarecordssearch.com/
http://deadbeatsnitch.com/
http://www.wantedposters.com/skiptrace.htm
http://find.intelius.com/search-name.php?ReportType=1&
http://omnitrace.com/Missing-Persons-Search.html?OVRAW=deadbeat&OVKEY=deadbeat&OVMTC=standard
http://www.discreetdata.com/index.html
http://www.identitycrawler.net/people_search.html
http://www.peoplefinders.com
http://zabasearch.com/
http://www.crimcheck.com/personalreports.htm
http://www.easybackgroundchecks.com/
http://www.abika.com/
http://www.freeprf.com/
http://www.efindoutthetruth.com/
http://www.netsleuth.com/
http://netonlineinvestigators.com/index.asp
http://www.backgroundcheckgateway.com/
http://www.backgroundcheckgateway.com/locate-people.html


FED AGENCIES
http://www.ncsea.org/
http://www.nfja.org/index.shtml
http://www.naag.org/issues/issue-consumer.php

REGIONAL FEDERAL CHILD SUPPORT OFFICES
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/oro/regions/acf_regions.html

FACTS AND REGIONAL FEDERAL CS OFFICE INFO
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse/fct/fct4.htm
http://www.divorcesource.com/WI/ARTICLES/beaulier11.html
http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/opa/fact_sheets/cse_factsheet.html
http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/cse/newhire/index.html
http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/cse/faq.html
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse/newhire/fop/passport.htm
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse/newhire/fop/fop.htm
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse/newhire/faq/faq.htm
http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/cse/extinf.html
http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/cse/
http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/grants/grants_cse.html
http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/index.html
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/region2/index.html
http://www.fms.treas.gov/faq/offsets_childsupport.html
http://www.govbenefits.gov/govbenefits_en.portal
http://www.fedstats.gov/qf/
http://www.fedworld.gov/gov-links.html
http://fatherhood.hhs.gov/pfs92/ch3.htm

SSI AND DISABILITY
FOR CHILD SUPPORT
https://s044a90.ssa.gov/apps6z/ISBA/main.html
http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/policybriefs/pb2004-02.html
http://www.ssa.gov/notices/supplemental-security-income/
http://family.findlaw.com/

FIND YOUR REPS
http://www.usa.gov/
http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/State_and_Territories.shtml
http://www.nga.org
http://www.naag.org/attorneys_general.php
http://judiciary.senate.gov/

CHILD SUPPORT LIEN NETWORK
(some states work with them)
http://www.childsupportliens.com/

COLLECTORS
http://www.supportkids.com/
http://www.supportcollectors.com/faq.php
http://www.deadbeatdadfinders.com/
http://www.deadbeatdadfinders.com/links.html
http://www.childsupport-aces.org/index2.html
http://www.divorcesource.com/info/deadbeat/deadbeat.shtml

TAX INFO
http://www.taxsites.com/index.htm
http://www.divorceinfo.com/taxes.htm
http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc354.html
http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc422.html
http://www.irs.gov/faqs/faq4-5.html
http://www.irs.gov/localcontacts/index.html
http://www.irs.gov/advocate/index.html
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p525/index.html

http://www.fms.treas.gov/faq/offsets_childsupport.html
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p504/ar02.html#d0e563
http://money.cnn.com/2007/02/14/pf/taxes/do_not_miss_tax_breaks/index.htm?postversion=2007021411

REPORT DEADBEATS
WORKING UNDER THE TABLE
(in writing, to your local and federal IRS offices)
http://www.irs.gov/localcontacts/index.html
http://www.irs.gov/compliance/enforcement/article/0,,id=106778,00.html

SEX OFFENDERS
http://www.mapsexoffenders.com/
http://www.scanusa.com/
http://www.nsopr.gov/
http://www.familywatchdog.us/Default.asp

Answer 9

He can terminate his rights and if he does then no he is not obligated to pay support.

Answer 10

Yes, and Yes.