Dear itssue-ga;
Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question. The laws may differ a bit depending on where a person lives,
but generally speaking, there is no law to prevent a mother from
legally changing the name of her child. She is your child and you can
petition the court to change the child?s name to whatever you wish.
It's as simple as that.
Now, as for allowing someone to adopt the child, there should be no
problem with that unless there is a law in your state or country that
expressly prohibits it. As a rule (in the USA at least), that which is
not expressly forbidden by law is usually deemed permissible.
Homosexual partners, who cannot legally marry in the traditional sense
in any US state, can in fact adopt in many of those states where gay
marriage is prohibited. Now I understand that you are not gay but my
point is this: if the law favors adoption by unmarried gay partners
than it must also extend the same to unmarried heterosexual partners.
If, on the other hand, your jurisdiction denies adoption to ALL
unmarried couples simply because they are not married to ONE ANOTHER,
then you will have problems.
Adoption by an unrelated party is often referred to as ?co-parent
adoption?. It?s uncharted territory in some jurisdictions so, again,
the court?s reaction to it depends on where one lives. The good news
is that in Texas for example, a process called ?termination? takes
place in which all claims by living biological parent(s), whose
identity or whereabouts are unknown, are legally terminated.
Thereafter, several different people in the child's life qualify, by
virtue of their position in that child?s life, to petition for
adoption. Among these people is: ?An adult who has had substantial
past contact with the child?.
TEXAS LAW ? TERMINATION/ADOPTION
http://www.adoptlegal.com/termination.html
What it all boils down to is what THE COURT will allow you to do. Even
if there IS legal precedent for adoption by an unrelated boyfriend in
your state, the court may find cause to deny the petition on other
grounds. Having said that, no one can predict for certain that you
WILL or WIIL NOT be able to carry through with this adoption, but it
certainly seems reasonable to suggest that it is definitely in your
favor provided you go about it properly and convince the court that
you are doing it for all the right reasons.
I hope you find that my research exceeds your expectations. If you
have any questions about my research please post a clarification
request prior to rating the answer. Otherwise, I welcome your rating
and your final comments and I look forward to working with you again
in the near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad ? Google Answers Researcher |
Clarification of Answer by
tutuzdad-ga
on
30 May 2005 18:44 PDT
Dear itssue-ga;
It would definitely be in one?s best interest to hire a lawyer for any
legal matter; so yes, considering the seriousness of this issue, I?d
agree that a lawyer is indeed a good idea in this instance. You CAN
actually handle your own legal affairs in just about any matter,
including adoption, and file the paperwork yourself without an
attorney (acting as your own lawyer) but as Benjamin Franklin once
said, "A lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client".
Your situation would basically follow that of a Step-Parent of
Grandparent adoption. Here?s how it?s done in Texas WITHOUT a lawyer:
STEP-PARENT OR GRANDPARENT ADOPTION
http://www.cyberstation.net/~paralegal/adoption.htm
If you want to do it WITH a lawyer, then of course he or she can
advise you exactly what needs to be done.
Now, to change a child?s name without the benefit of adoption, you may
find this article informative:
TEXAS NAME CHANGE OF A CHILD
http://www.cyberstation.net/~paralegal/name.htm
Keep in mind that if you do adopt, the name change thing won?t be
necessary. If you so desire, the name change is automatically included
in the adoption order by the court.
How?s that?
Tutuzdad-ga
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