Parental Rights & Stepparent Adoption

by Sarah from Sarasota, Florida, Sarasota County

Parental Rights & Stepparent Adoption: My daughter is 5 years old and has never met her biological father. He has been incarcerated for 3 or more years since her birth. He has two different children that he has given up rights to as well.



I have never recieved any kind of child support from him for her. How do I go about getting him to sign his rights over? I am remarried and my husband wants to adopt her. He is the only father she has ever known.

Answer to Florida Adoption Question

Dear Sarah,

The process in Florida for stepparent adoption is straight forward.

There is a form for the biological father's consent to the stepparent adoption, which he can sign voluntarily.

The parental consent form also terminates his parental rights voluntarily; because there is an adoption pending.

My suggestion is to send him the consent form and ask him to sign it.

It must be notarized and witnessed by two people. The correctional facility should have a way for inmates to have papers notarized. If he will not voluntarily sign, you may still be able to go forward without his consent.

If after sending him the consent form, he does not return it within a reasonable time, you can go ahead and file the joint petition for stepparent adoption anyway. You can then have the biological father served with the joint petition for stepparent adoption that you filed.

There are other forms that must be filed along with the joint petition for stepparent adoption. Read the form instructions carefully, and you should have him served with everything that must be filed with the clerk of court. Once he has been properly served, he has 30 days to respond with a written answer. He is supposed to file his answer with the clerk of court and also send you a copy of his answer.

If he does not answer, and the 30 days has passed, you can contact the clerk of court and find out what you must do to to request a hearing. When you go to the hearing explain to the judge that he was properly served, and did not respond. You should bring your proof of service to the court hearing with you.

Also explain to the judge that your daughter does not know him and that he has been incarcerated for most of her life. Forms for stepparent adoption are available on the Florida Supreme Court's website, www.flcourts.org. Have a look at our Florida Stepparent Adoption page form more information about parental rights and adoptions in Florida.

Notice: We provide these answers to the general public and our website visitors as a means to further their online legal research. These answers are merely suggestions and should not be regarded as legal advice.

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