Wi. We have had guardianship of our 11 yr. grandchild for 10 yrs. Mom is an addict and has been for 20 years. Dad has had no contact or has contributed financially for 10 yrs. He was served papers about terminating his rights. He has now called me to inform me he will not sign to terminate and will see us in court. Mom (daughter) has willingly signed to terminate. Our court date is the end of Nov. for TPR and adoption. Now that the father will contest it, it will most likely be rescheduled in order for him to retain a lawyer. He is an alcoholic and lives in a motel. What are the chances the judge would do an involuntary TPR? I understood that no contact along with no financial support of a child beyond 3 months is considered abandonment of the child and grounds for termination.
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Adopting grandchild
- Thread starter Kathy53
- Start date
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LdiJ
Senior Member
This really is something that you should discuss with your adoption attorney.
justalayman
Senior Member
As the others implied, you should have a lawyer for this. It’s not considered DIY since any mistake can leave the door open for contesting the action later.
While your lawyer is surely the best source for an answer, while the father has neither supported nor contacted the child for a lengthy period of time, there can be defenses for such actions. Without knowing the true details of the entire situation it’s impossible to provide any dependable answers.
Have you ever filed to seek child support from the father? If no, then while the father has a moral obligation to support the child, if there is no court order in place, his legal requirement has not been established.
Has there been a visitation schedule ordered by the court to allow the father to visit the child? If not, why not?
Have you done anything to foster a relationship between the child and father? If not, why not?
Was the father even give notice you were awarded guardianship of the child?
Those questions along with many more would need to be answered before even guessing what a judge might do.
While your lawyer is surely the best source for an answer, while the father has neither supported nor contacted the child for a lengthy period of time, there can be defenses for such actions. Without knowing the true details of the entire situation it’s impossible to provide any dependable answers.
Have you ever filed to seek child support from the father? If no, then while the father has a moral obligation to support the child, if there is no court order in place, his legal requirement has not been established.
Has there been a visitation schedule ordered by the court to allow the father to visit the child? If not, why not?
Have you done anything to foster a relationship between the child and father? If not, why not?
Was the father even give notice you were awarded guardianship of the child?
Those questions along with many more would need to be answered before even guessing what a judge might do.