Legal Question in Family Law in Georgia
5 years ago my fiance and I gave my parents temporary custody of our son when he was born. Now that we are living together and getting married we want to get custody back and change his last name to my fiances'. My parents are in agreement. My parents live in NC and we are in GA. Do we need to hire a lawyer or can we do this ourselves. If so where do we start. Does this need to be done in NC or in GA?
2 Answers from Attorneys
North Carolina unless there was some kind of order entered by the court in Georgia. If there was just an agreement and nothing was filed with the court, then it may be as simple as just giving the child back.
Why do you have to change the child's name? To do that, you will have to wait until you are married and then see if Georgia allows adoption by a step-parent (NC does allow for that). Such adoptions are usually easier than regular adoptions. What about the child's real biological father? Will he object? If that is the case, then you cannot change the child's name (at least not in North Carolina).
Don't do this yourself. If everyone agrees, it will be a lot less expensive.
This is far too complex to be a do it yourself project, but with everyone's agreement that will hold the costs down. Georgia can possibly hear the case if either (1) all parties consent or (2) the child has been in Georgia for six months.
I am not sure why Rachel mentioned adoption since it sounds like the boyfriend is the father.
From your zip code it looks like you are only about 5 minutes from my office, and I'd be glad to look over your papers and see if you can do things from this end.