Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia

What if a mother never filed, or requested child support from the biological father of her child that she had out of wedlock in the state of Virginia, mother does not wish to receive any money for support, backpay or not, out of fear that he may request visitation, or seek a relationship of any sort with the child. I understand that every biological parent has the right to have a relationship with their child; However, he has never contacted my fiancé to see his daughter, he has never paid a single cent in child support, has been in and out of prison, is currently in prison, and has multiple felony convictions. We do no not feel safe at ALL about his involvement in any way whatsoever with my fiancé's daughter and we would like to know if his past holds any weight on his rights to see the child if he randomly decides to, because it would undoubtedly devastate the child and wreak havoc on our family. I feel that it would be nothing short of heinous for him be able to lawfully drop in because he got a notion to have a relationship with the child after all of this time. Considering all of the factors and events that have transpired over the past 7 years that the child has been alive, I feel that he has effectively burned his parental bridges, but I am not familiar with Virginia custody law in this type of case. The child has no idea he exists and believes that her former stepfather is her real father who had been with her since infancy. I know for a fact that any type of relationship between my fiance's daughter and her biological father would NOT be conducive to her mental or physical health whatsoever, and I feel that that it's blatantly obvious that she would be very unsafe under his care for any amount of time. I am the custodial parent's fiancé, whom I also share a child with and and live with.. I will be married to her in 3 weeks and she and I would like to know if she can terminate parental rights, which she wishes to do. Also, can we place any sort of restraining order on him after his release date even if no assault charges have been filed against him stemming from their past relationship, but as a safety measure as a multiple felon. The child that my fiancé and he share is 7 years old, and she has no idea who he is, and does not know that she and her younger sister have different fathers. My fiancé was under the impression that he would be released soon, however after doing some of my own research, I found out that he has been out of prison twice, and has been back to prison twice, where he currently resides during the period she thought he was incarcerated. I have not been able to find his release date, however I have located his prison ID number and intend to call the appropriate authorties to get his release date. After abandoning his daughter, physically and financially, even if no court order was filed, and considering his extensive felonious past, will he still be granted visitation if he requests it post release? I have done some research and found that there are exceptions to parental rights if the parent or the parent in question's behavior has been deemed detrimental to the child's well being. We are not concerned with the child support at all, as no court order was even requested by the mother. Our main concern is terminating his rights for obvious reasons. What are our options concerning this matter? Also I desperately want to adopt her. Would adopting my stepdaughter even be a possibility, or effective method to terminate the biological father's rights? Also, I want to know if the father will have any ground to stand on if he objects. Does the father even have the right to object to us terminating the parental rights due to his criminal past, never seeing his daughter or even attempting to do so? Would he have to agree to terminate rights?


Asked on 9/19/17, 1:30 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

Yes, this biological father's parental rights could be terminated in the process

of your adopting the child described.as her stepparent.

Office Tel. (703) 838-5577

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Answered on 9/24/17, 12:42 pm


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