Washington Child Custody Legal Questions

The law sees you as the child's legal father. I assume you're on the birth certificate. She will be treated as your daughter (parenting plan, child support) unless you object or the bio father asserts rights, in which case the court will need to weigh what is best for the child, since you are the only father she knows. I don't know what you mean by you haven't tested her. In order to find out that you were not the bio father she had to be tested. Testing always has to involve the potential parent and the child. If you mean it is not established that the other man is her bio father, my advice is, don't do it. Since he has had no involvement he probably doesn't want it, so why invite the possibility of stirring up some inchoate sense of responsibility on his part. Get a good lawyer for the divorce and immediately establish a temporary parenting plan. Good luck.... Read More

I have no idea from your question what your relationship is to the child. If you and the mother are married, you can file a second parent adoption and the father's termination of parental rights would be a part of it. Since the father does not have a parenting plan, the mother is free to move with the child. The mother has custody, since the father has not filed anything to the contrary. If you have an address for the father, you should give it to the mother and she should give it to the State so they can serve him.... Read More

Your husband, by definition, is the father since you were married when the child was born. The court can not terminate a parent's rights in a divorce. The fact that he isn't on the birth certificate is irrelevant, but silly. Once you are divorced, if you and the boyfriend get married and he wants to adopt the child, je cam file a second parent adoption and the father's rights can be terminated in that process and a new birth certificate issued with the adoptive father's name on it.... Read More

Whether or not a court rules to terminate your parental rights depends on the kind of relationship you had with her prior to the incarceration, whether you paid child support and whether you were actually declared her legal father if you were not married to the mother. You don't have to sign, but if you don't send a response to the court (and to the mother/stepfather) outlining your relationship to the child. If you had no significant relationship before, the court won't be interested in what you plan to do once you're released.... Read More

The question is whether or not he has graduated from high school. If he hasn't, you have to continue to pay until he does. You may also have to pay a portion of any post secondary support if he goes on with his schooling and the mother asks for it timely or if it's already mandated in the child support order.... Read More

If she's an international student, she likely has a family. You can only adopt a foreign child if the parents in the foreign country relinquish and the foreign country accepts that relinquishment and allows for a foreign adoption. This is generally a long and costly process, depending on the country.... Read More

Once you are 18 you are no longer considered a child for purposes of living with your parents and are free to move out. Of course if you don't live with them, they have no duty of support unless a court orders it. Therefore, you need to think about whether you want to just move out without support or go to CPS in which case as long as you are still in school, you can live in a foster home and be supported. You are free to take your personal belongings with you in either case (clothes, books etc.) but if you can't take the cat, they are free to do what they want with it. You may want to take it and give it to a friend if you're worried they'll harm it. There are agencies that assist homeless and endangered youths. It would be worth talking to then before you move or in any way jeopardize having economic support.... Read More

You can't just put the boyfriend on the birth certificate. Whether or not he can adopt your son would be a question of the length and stability of the relationship etc. Every adoption has to have a home study and the court's approval depends on that home study. If it recommends adoption you can then ask the court to terminate the father's rights. If you had done what you should, you would have filed a parentage action with the court as soon as this child was born. That would have imposed child support on the father and provided for a parenting plan which allocates time with the child for each parent (or not if there are reasons not to provide time) and this situation would look quite different. It is not too late to do so now. As to the boyfriend, you don't say if you're living together. If he is so close to the child why are you not married. A boyfriend relationship is usually too unstable to warrant adoption. If both of you are serious, then get married and establish a stable home. Once there is some history with that, the chances of an adoption are much better.... Read More

It depends on what the guardianship order says. It is unlikely that as the guardian you have the authority to do anything permanent. You can sign a power of attorney for someone to have decision making authority over the child in your absence. However, that person would need to go to court to transfer guardianship.... Read More

Custody is determined by the court. However, if you are leaving a child with someone for a period of time, the appropriate thing to do is to give the person power of attorney for a specified period of time and detailing what rights the person has as a surrogate decision maker for the child, e.g. to provide/sign for medical care, obtain school records etc. Otherwise, if the child is left long enough, the person can go to court on a 3rd party custody action. You should seek the help of an attorney to put together the power of attorney.... Read More

You can't terminate anything. A court can terminate parental rights if there is someone to adopt the child. However, if he is an ex, it is unlikely that a court would allow him to adopt the child. If he was continually involved with the child, he can go to court and potentially get a parenting plan on the basis of being the child's psychological parent.... Read More

You should have gone to court as soon as your family failed to return your daughter. They presumably have no legal right to her. However, now that you've waited this long, you still need to go to court to demand her back, but they now have a strong argument to ask to be her third party custodians.... Read More

To be enforceable, any document that changes a court order must be another court order signed by a Judge. If there is an existing court order regarding custody, you may not move the child out of state without the consent of the other parent and you must fully comply with the relocation statute.... Read More