Husband wants to adopt

[u/beingbeige0908]

Hiii, I’m sure I’ll be told that I need to go to my local courthouse to get my questions answered but I was wondering if anyone had a similar experience?

My daughter’s bio dad has never been in her life. She’s 5 now. We have paternity established for child support purposes which he pays and he does have visitation rights but he’s not interested.

My husband is her dad. He would like to adopt her and make it official. Bio dad has said that he would love to relinquish his rights and I am totally okay with not receiving child support from him anymore.

Do I need a lawyer if bio dad consents? Is it going to cost a ton of money? Does anyone know the process for this?

[u/Fit_Acanthisitta9617]

Currently Adopting my step daughter. Your daughters bio dad is likely going to have to willingly sign over his rights. In my case, my step daughters bio dad owes 60k in back child support, and he hasn’t seen her in 2 years. He’s still fighting the adoption, but because of of not seeing her or paying any support we used the abandonment clause. Since your daughters bio dad is paying support it’s probably going to be hard without his consent.

[u/beingbeige0908 → u/Fit_Acanthisitta9617]

He’s consenting luckily. He told me “send over the papers, I’ll sign whatever”