Divorce Advice for Men | Fathers Rights Divorce | Child Custody

Question:

I was paying child support for a child I never met up until the time he was legally adopted by the child's mother's new husband.

At that point, I stopped paying child support believing my obligation ended once the child was adopted.

However, I received a letter saying I owe back child support during the time that my child was adopted.

Doesn't child support terminate once your child is adopted?

Question:

My wife and I are disagreeing about when we should have kids. We are recently married and I do not want kids yet. She says she understands but I am not sure she will stop trying to get pregnant.

Is it possible for both of us to sign a binding, legal agreement that if she does get pregnant that we would give the baby up for adoption?

Question:

I am in the process of adopting my wife's child since the child's biological father is terminating his parental rights.

However, my wife now wants to divorce me. The adoption paperwork has not gone to the judge yet.

Will this adoption still go through even though we are now divorcing?

By Jill A. Duffy

Attorney, Cordell & Cordell

The decision to adopt a child give the child what you hope will be a stable, loving environment to grow up in is an honorable one. Couples rarely adopt children with plans to divorce. But as we know, divorce happens.

After an adoption has been finalized, a divorce does not affect the legal parental rights of the adoptive parents. The legal rights of the birth parents have been terminated and they no longer have decision-making abilities concerning the child.

The biological parents of an adopted child whose adopted parents are going through a divorce do not have standing to contest the divorce, the new custody arrangement, or to get the child back.

There is one caveat to the idea that the biological parents are completely cut off after the adoption, though.

Question:

It was recently determined that I am the biological father of a child I have never met. At that time, I was also ordered to pay back child support from the time the child was born until now.

The child's stepfather wants to adopt him, which is fine with me since I do not know the child. So how can the child's stepfather adopt him, and how can I get the child support obligation removed?

I think it's unfair that I am ordered to pay years worth of back child support for a child that I never knew.