Custody versus termination of rights?

[grrlwhit]

My fiance' has a son that will be 5 in May. He and the mother spilt up when the son was only 1 1/2 years old. Of course, she got a child support order on him, which essentially takes half of his income. The mother has denied him visitation (and has moved and we have no idea where she is) and he has not seen his son in over 3 years. The mother is also remarried, so has a stable household and a father figure that would be more than capable of financially supporting the son. We are now trying to start a family of our own, and raise my son, which is hard to do on our limited income. Not to mention the fact that my fiance' is supporting a child that he never gets to see, and who would have no idea who he was were he to run into him on the street. We know she is an unfit mother, but there is no way of proving it. We live in Missouri, which is tailored to the mother in these cases. Do we have a chance of getting custody? Do we have a chance of getting a judge to terminate parental rights and terminate child support?

 

[Duranie]

He just cannot terminate rights just because he doesnt want to pay child support. It makes no sense to do this just sdo he can afford to hav a baby with someone else. The step-father would have to adopt and this termination must be petitioned by the mother, and all would have to agree.

Dad needs to grow a backbone to mom and file contempt charges if she is not allowing visitation. He is going to have to locate mom and serve her. What state is the orig order out of?

Dad can petition to have his child support reduced since mom has withheld visits, but it depends what state the order is out of. He might want to google the guidelines. Also if Dad winds up having to travel to see the child he can certainly ask for a reduction in support. Most attorneys will give a free or low cost consultation, he should see one.

 

[trentonsmom2005]

My fiance' has a son that will be 5 in May. He and the mother spilt up when the son was only 1 1/2 years old. Of course, she got a child support order on him, which essentially takes half of his income. The mother has denied him visitation (and has moved and we have no idea where she is) and he has not seen his son in over 3 years. The mother is also remarried, so has a stable household and a father figure that would be more than capable of financially supporting the son. We are now trying to start a family of our own, and raise my son, which is hard to do on our limited income. Not to mention the fact that my fiance' is supporting a child that he never gets to see, and who would have no idea who he was were he to run into him on the street. We know she is an unfit mother, but there is no way of proving it. We live in Missouri, which is tailored to the mother in these cases. Do we have a chance of getting custody? Do we have a chance of getting a judge to terminate parental rights and terminate child support?

When everything was set up with Child support was there Paternity established? Also was there visitation set up to? Without a court order for visitation he will have to fight everything in court.

Thats what screwed my sons father. He never set up visitation after support and paternity were established. So he has no rights to my son.

Best bet is to speak with a lawyer.