My jurisdiction is: Houston, Texas
We have a complicated situation. I'm going to do my best to describe in as much detail my questions. First, let me start off by giving our situation at hand.
My husband's ex wife is looking to sign over her rights to their son. Their son, my step-son, lives with my husband and myself. I've raised him since he was 1 years old and he has become a huge part of my life. I have two children from a previous marriage, and we are all a family and have been for some time now. My husband's ex-wife rarely sees her child, and doesn't pay child support. The attorney general has taken her back to court on three different occasions. Feb. 11th is their next court date and it's to be assumed she will go to jail for not making her payments. She called my husband a few days ago and told him she wants to sign over her rights to her son. (We've been hoping for this for sometime, as I want to adopt him) Now that the time has actually come, I have mixed feelings. She's always lived a life of 'just getting by' and never really had to work for anything. She's been pregnant atleast 4 times in 5 years and has 'miscarried' each of those children (so she tells us). She has no drive to better her life or get a job.
My husband and I are both torn. We don't want his son to suffer anymore than he already has. He has called me Momma since he was 1.5 years old. In reality, this won't change much, however, I feel the ex-wife is trying to take the easy road by not wanting to go to jail. She didn't shed a tear when she told us.
I'm not even sure about what we need to do to have the rights terminated or should we tell her she needs to be responsible for hiring an attorney. She wants us to do it, but we are hurting financially too at this time.
I'd appreciate any insight you can give. I'm just torn.
We have a complicated situation. I'm going to do my best to describe in as much detail my questions. First, let me start off by giving our situation at hand.
My husband's ex wife is looking to sign over her rights to their son. Their son, my step-son, lives with my husband and myself. I've raised him since he was 1 years old and he has become a huge part of my life. I have two children from a previous marriage, and we are all a family and have been for some time now. My husband's ex-wife rarely sees her child, and doesn't pay child support. The attorney general has taken her back to court on three different occasions. Feb. 11th is their next court date and it's to be assumed she will go to jail for not making her payments. She called my husband a few days ago and told him she wants to sign over her rights to her son. (We've been hoping for this for sometime, as I want to adopt him) Now that the time has actually come, I have mixed feelings. She's always lived a life of 'just getting by' and never really had to work for anything. She's been pregnant atleast 4 times in 5 years and has 'miscarried' each of those children (so she tells us). She has no drive to better her life or get a job.
My husband and I are both torn. We don't want his son to suffer anymore than he already has. He has called me Momma since he was 1.5 years old. In reality, this won't change much, however, I feel the ex-wife is trying to take the easy road by not wanting to go to jail. She didn't shed a tear when she told us.
I'm not even sure about what we need to do to have the rights terminated or should we tell her she needs to be responsible for hiring an attorney. She wants us to do it, but we are hurting financially too at this time.
I'd appreciate any insight you can give. I'm just torn.
