Termination of Parental Rights Without Adoption Involved

[nadeioval]

Jurisdiction

Massachusetts

(Bristol County, MA Case)


Good afternoon,


I am a father in the process of changing my custody from shared legal and sole physical to complete sole custody. My question is not regarding the merits of my case. Given criminal history and my ex-wife's departure to Florida in 2009 and her never returning despite a 2011 divorce agreement granting her visitation, the court has granted me a temporary order of sole custody and suspended her parenting time until further court order.


My question is regarding a change of strategy from my initial complaint for modification of custody. Initially, I was trying to terminate her legal custody and visitation pending counseling and parental fitness evaluation, as well as, requiring her establishment of local domicile (Something that never occurred as agreed). I have already attended my initial hearing and have pretrial conference on June 28th. Despite email communication regarding the wellbeing of the children since her December release from prison (for leaving the scene of an accident involving injury while on probation) and acknowledgment of receipt of my requests to speak regarding the case amongst the same communication, she has ignored my requests. In summary, she has not once officially contested my complaint in any fashion.


I have recently decided that I should change lanes to terminate her rights completely vs. stripping them down to minimal. I have researched and spoken to the Bristol County Probate and Family Registry and have only found limited information that would assist in determining a course of action for my specific situation. I am a pro se litigant and have realized that I may be reaching a point where I need legal advice. I am hoping that your group may be able to provide some advice on the logistics of what I need to file to change strategy.


For example:

Do I simply file a motion to terminate parental rights?


Is it a complaint rather than a motion?


Do I amend my initial complaint?


Will the court entertain my request at pretrial conference or will I need to submit all new documentation that will generate other hearings?


Will they entertain my request to terminate without a corresponding adoption request or other steps prior?

Any assistance you are able to provide to help me determine what course of action I need to take to change lanes would be much appreciated. I thank you in advance for your time in consideration of this matter.

 

[army judge]

Courts are very reluctant to terminate parental rights.

Criminal misdeeds perpetrated against others don't often, alone, serve as disqualifying fcators to terminate a parent's rights.

My observation over the years reveal to me that 95% of parental rights terminations derive from governmental action, the other 5% from an action initiated by th custodial parent or guardian.

It is a rare day where prison time, lack of involvement in the child's life, failure to pay child support, and abuse of the other parent will ever amount to enough for the state to terminate a parent's rights.

It is even rarer when parental rights are extinguished by a pro se litigant.

You might wish to pursue your current civil matter, which fails to state a cause of action or a series of events sufficient to have your child's other parents rights to be extinguished.

Many years ago an older attorney told me, "Son, never change the theory of your case mid-stream. Finish what you started, unless your case is flawed."

In answer to your questions, what you'd need to do is file a petition to amend your original complaint. Be careful, because if you had an adversary, you could end up losing everything.

Your case appears to be an "in Re the minor child, Joe Doe" matter.

If you file a petition to amend, which is one of many ways to attempt your new goal, it is up to the presiding judge to allow it, or disallow it.

Finish chewing what you started, before taking another bite of a very big problem.

Realistically, she is out of your life and the child's life.

Seeking a legal order to declare that could one day alienate your child, or worse, awaken the sleeping dog, such that it appears barking, snarling, scratching, and digging at your quiet life.

 

[ElleMD]

Simply put, YOU can not file to terminate her parental rights. A court can terminate them but only in extreme circumstances and your situation does not even come close. No parent is obligated to exercise their visitation rights, though obviously two involved parents is generally considered to be best.

 

[ElleMD]

No, once again, YOU can not file to take away her rights. You can request whatever modification to the current visitation agreement you like, but termination of rights is off the table.

You can request whatever you like as far as visitation- just do not be surprised if it is denied. The bar for exercising one's parental rights is very low. If you have a valid concern such as substance abuse, that you can substantiate, you can request a plan that requires supervised visitation or compliance with a treatment plan in order to be permitted overnight visits, but you can not make her jump through hoops to keep her rights to the children. You. Can. Not. Remove. Her. Rights.

 

[leslie82]

Also, I could not fit it in my initial post... She recently lost her rights to another child in Florida.

So? That has nothing to do with your child. That has to do with that child.

Dude you're not going to get her rights relinquished so stay out of that rabbit hole. You seem to have already gotten everything. You're going to have sole custody. She's choosing not to show up to court, not exercise her visitation. So what's the problem? Why the need to strip her parental rights when she has no visitation and no legal or physical custody?

If she has had her visitation stripped until a further court order then leave it up to the courts. She's not complying with them. She's not showing up. So she's shooting herself in the foot. Take the advice given and don't try to start something new when you don't even have this custody thing wrapped up yet. You never know - she could suddenly change tomorrow and clean herself up and do what she's supposed to do. Stranger things have happened.

 

[army judge]

Also, I could not fit it in my initial post... She recently lost her rights to another child in Florida.

That allegations has NOTHING to do with your child.

I suspect she harmed, endangered, or neglected that child.

Ignoring a child, isn't the same as abandoning or neglecting a child.

Nothing you alleged above will be enough to have her parental rights extinguished by a court.

You possess sole custody, and she has enacted a self-imposed ban.

That's about as good as it gets.

If there is a child support order, allow the meter to run.
Why?
One day she may hit the lottery, or receive a $20,000,000 inheritance from an uncle.