What to do if my husband and I were seprated for 5 months durning this time he got a girl pregnant and now he wants to terminte his parental rights?
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What to do if my husband and I were seprated for 5 months durning this time he got a girl pregnant and now he wants to terminte his parental rights?
He dosen’t want the child and would like to sign his rights away. We need to know how to go about this as well as how to handle any child support issuses. The female is going after my husband for child support right now, we have a child and are very low income. We can’t afford payments to her with out taking away from our daughter. We also can’t afford a lawyer.
Asked on October 29, 2012 under Family Law, Texas
Answers:
B.H.F., Member, Texas State Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 11 years ago | Contributor
The courts do not generally allow a father to terminate his parental rights just because he cannot afford to support the child and did not want the child. If the mom had another person in her life that was willing to adopt the child after the termination, your husband would have a better shot at getting his rights voluntarily terminated under these circustances.
The reason that the courts are reluctant to grant a voluntary motion to terminate in cases like your husband's is because they do not want to leave the child without a father-- at least in name.
If she pursues a court order for child support, then your husband will be ordered to pay on this obligation. However, the fact that you and he already have children, will result in a lower calculation. You need to start planning now on how you are going to handle the change in finances.
As far as representation goes, if he can't afford an attorney, he can either represent himself or he can try to contact the court clerks and see if there are any legal services programs in your county. He should also visit with a couple of attorneys to see if they will offer a manageable payment plan for representation. Because this is a civil matter that does not involve a contempt motion, the court will not appoint an attorney to represent him.
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