Q: Terminating the rights of child’s father who has joint custody, but doesn’t abide by decree?
My daughter’s father and I have joint custody. He lives in another state. He has not contacted my daughter in 4 months. Before that it was 2 months. He has never paid his court appointed child support. He has not followed anything from the divorce papers that pertains to my daughter. My question is can I terminate his rights?
A: No. Alabama does not like to terminate the rights of parents however it can be done. But the time from not seeing the child and not paying child support is usually for a period of 18 months to two years.
A:
If he has gone for more than four months without providing any emotion, physical, financial or other support and has no contact with the child for that period you can file a petition to terminate his rights. You have the burden of proving that he has in fact abandoned the child within the meaning of Section 26-8-7., Code of Alabama. Find a lawyer who is very sharp on private Terminations. The statute reads: (c) In any case where the parents have abandoned a child and such abandonment continues for a period of four months next preceding the filing of the petition, such facts shall constitute a rebuttable presumption that the parents are unable or unwilling to act as parents. Nothing in this subsection is intended to prevent the filing of a petition in an abandonment case prior to the end of the four-month period.
Courts will usually not terminate when the mom and father are cooperating to allow the father to escape child support payments. On your facts, you should hire a lawyer and file.
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