Legal Question in Family Law in California
I was engaged to my son's biological father. I ended the relationship not to long after becoming pregnant. I met and married my now husband while I was pregnant. My son was born in May 08 in California. His biological father has never seen him. We were in contact, only because I would email him with updates until November 08. After which, he made no attempt to contact us except when I sent him a myspace message last week asking for a family medical history (at which point he made the suggestion that he does not believe my son is his). I asked for child support (not much since he is in the military and was only an E1), however, he never paid anything. He has never sent his son anything. My husband wants to adopt my son. Are we allowed to adopt without the permission of the biological father? What do I need to know about a step parent adoption?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Based on your question, it's not clear that you even need to adopt him. The child was born during your marriage, and your good husband welcomed him into the home and has been bringing him up as his own child. As I understand it, the biological father has done nothing to indicate any interest in the child; he has no custody or visitation rights, indeed he would have a good chance of beating back any lawsuit you might file seeking child support. In fact, if you were to divorce your husband, believe it or not, your husband would have to pay child support even though he is not the biological father. But you two need to run this by a family law attorney in your locality in whom you have confidence.
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