Can my future husband adopt my daughter when her bio father has not been a part of her life ever (she's 12) and is not on her birth certificate?

Yes, once you and your fiancé are married, an intrafamily adoption may be conducted wherein a stepparent may adopt the child of his spouse so long as certain criteria are met. You are correct that your ex has not established paternity. As I assume you and your ex were not married on or around the time your daughter was born, where paternity would have been presumed, in Louisiana at the time your daughter was born your ex would have had to either 1) signed the birth certificate or 2) sign an act of acknowledgement of paternity to establish his parental rights. Now that said, in my experience, as you know he is the biological father of your daughter, he will very likely be considered a necessary party that the Court will require to be served with the adoption paperwork and given a chance to contest the adoption, though he will have little power under the law to do so. Under Louisiana law, parental rights may be terminated if a father is unable to demonstrate a substantial commitment to parental responsibilities. Specifically, under Louisiana Civil Code Article 1245, if your ex has refused or failed to visit, communicate, or attempt to communicate with your daughter without just cause for a period of at least six months, his consent is not necessary for the adoption to go through. A case of particular note with facts very similar to your own is In re C.E.B., 161 So. 3d 811 (La. App. 3d Cir. 2014). In that case, an intrafamily adoption was allowed to proceed as the biological father, who had not established his paternity rights, was unable to demonstrate a substantial commitment to parental responsibilities. Based upon your description of the situation, it appears that serving your ex with the intrafamily adoption petition may be an issue and, even if you were able to locate him, he may dodge service. Louisiana civil procedure allows for matters such as this to proceed but may require an attorney (called a “curator”) to be appointed to attempt to locate and serve him and, if unable to, to represent your ex’s best interests in his stead at the adoption proceedings. During the adoption process, the Department of Children and Family Services will conduct a background check and your new husband will need to be fingerprinted. If you would also like to have your daughter’s last name to be changed during the adoption process, it may also be completed during this process. Intrafamily adoptions can be complicated and drawn-out process if the necessary steps are not met. If you are interested in having someone assist you, please feel free to give my office a call at (337)237-0492 to set up a free consultation. I’ve represented clients in numerous intrafamily adoptions and would be more than happy to assist you.