What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? IL
I apologize in advance for the long thread, but I want to give as much detail as possible. Thank you for your time.
My daughter will be 9 this Saturday, and has not seen biodad since she was a year old, though he text messages every now and then and calls once in a blue moon. I was 15 when I got pregnant, 16 when I had her, and during the entire pregnancy and 5 months after he birth he refused to help, or come see her. My mother and I filed for joint-custody at 5 mos so she could receive health insurance, and after that my mother filed for child support. It called for paternity testing and it was established. Shortly after, biodad sued me for custody without ever having attempted to visit in the first place. 1 year later, my mother and I still held joint-custody, biodad none, but with visitation rights in place and a child support order.
No support received until 2 years later via wage garnishment, and at a lesser rate than the already low rate that was ordered due to job ditching, and was fully steady another 2 years after that because he went into the military. Still, the same low rate and involuntary. All attempts at visitation were initiated by me, and canceled at the very last minute (usually either the day of when I called asking for his flight info, or after the fact...once again, I called). The last attempt made was in May of 2010.
I got married this past January to my bf/fiance who has been around since my child was an infant. She knows that he is her stepdad, but she calls him daddy. Husband wants to adopt her, so even though I felt that I had grounds to terminate without his permission, I called him anyways to try to do things civilly and give him a chance to save face. He refused, and is mostly doing so to spite me as he has not tried to care for this child.
I went to a lawyer this morning and was told I had grounds for abandonment, but because my husband is in the army and we don't know where he's going to be stationed (within the next 2 months, he just went in and is going to AIT now), he advised me to wait until we got settled in the new place for jurisdiction reasons, and that's fine.
What I would like to know, is if biodad suddenly decides to actually make and keep a visit within the next 6 months or so (he said it takes 6 months after we move to be considered a resident in that jurisdiction), will that cancel my grounds for abandonment?
I apologize in advance for the long thread, but I want to give as much detail as possible. Thank you for your time.
My daughter will be 9 this Saturday, and has not seen biodad since she was a year old, though he text messages every now and then and calls once in a blue moon. I was 15 when I got pregnant, 16 when I had her, and during the entire pregnancy and 5 months after he birth he refused to help, or come see her. My mother and I filed for joint-custody at 5 mos so she could receive health insurance, and after that my mother filed for child support. It called for paternity testing and it was established. Shortly after, biodad sued me for custody without ever having attempted to visit in the first place. 1 year later, my mother and I still held joint-custody, biodad none, but with visitation rights in place and a child support order.
No support received until 2 years later via wage garnishment, and at a lesser rate than the already low rate that was ordered due to job ditching, and was fully steady another 2 years after that because he went into the military. Still, the same low rate and involuntary. All attempts at visitation were initiated by me, and canceled at the very last minute (usually either the day of when I called asking for his flight info, or after the fact...once again, I called). The last attempt made was in May of 2010.
I got married this past January to my bf/fiance who has been around since my child was an infant. She knows that he is her stepdad, but she calls him daddy. Husband wants to adopt her, so even though I felt that I had grounds to terminate without his permission, I called him anyways to try to do things civilly and give him a chance to save face. He refused, and is mostly doing so to spite me as he has not tried to care for this child.
I went to a lawyer this morning and was told I had grounds for abandonment, but because my husband is in the army and we don't know where he's going to be stationed (within the next 2 months, he just went in and is going to AIT now), he advised me to wait until we got settled in the new place for jurisdiction reasons, and that's fine.
What I would like to know, is if biodad suddenly decides to actually make and keep a visit within the next 6 months or so (he said it takes 6 months after we move to be considered a resident in that jurisdiction), will that cancel my grounds for abandonment?
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