OT-Reliquinshing parental rights?
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| Thu, 05-04-2006 - 2:52pm |
Without writing a book it will be hard to give you the background on this, but here are the highlights:
DH has a son (C)who will be 15 in July.
DH has never been an active part of C's life. A few brief attempts, but nothing meaningful. We haven't seen him for almost 7 years even though he lives 25 miles away.
C has been raised by a great stepdad and has a younger 1/2 brother.
I've never learned the real story behind this whole deal, but DH is extremely bitter about the X (gf, never married). I believe, from info gathered from other family members and friends who were around at the time, that DH had been seeing X for a short time in a non-committed way and got "caught". X wanted to get married, DH ran.
X and I have conversations from time to time about C and we get along fine. I talk to her maybe 2x/yr. She doesn't understand DHs behavior either.
I'm not making excuses for him because A) I totally disagree with the way he's handled it and we've had more than one heated argument over it; B) there's nothing I can do.
Cutting to the chase: DH was served notice today that his child support is being increased by $100/mo. It will still be less than my X pays for our DD, but DH makes very little money (a story for another day...he's looking for a new job). X didn't instigate this, in MO your child support is reviewed every five years.
DH is livid. I told him flat out the only way to change it is to sign away parental rights because, like it or not, "you're his dad." He said "No I'm not."
Does anyone have any experience with parental rights issues? I'm really concerned about the emotional toll it would have on 15yo SS. It's bad enough that his dad doesn't want to have anything to do with him, but now 15 yrs later he signs off completely. How damaging would *that* be? And will DH look back on it years from now with regret?
Should I try talking to an attorney first to see if there's a way to keep from increasing the child support? I do need to find out what the age of emancipation is in MO--we probably only have 3 more years of support to pay (maybe longer if he goes to college).
This is a biggie--I'd appreciate any insight you can offer.
Dani

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I guess I based most of my comments on my experience with my foster son.
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