Q: Can I terminate parental rights of my ex-husband who has not paid child support and over a year?
I have sole legal custody and physical custody of my children. my ex-husband is not allowed to contact us and I have a restraining order. Can I terminate parental rights? he also has not paid child support and over a year due to being incarcerated on domestic violence charges against me. What can I do legally? I honestly don’t care about the child support. I just want his rights terminated. I am terrified of him.
A: Well it sounds like your ex-husband was abusive to you and a terrible spouse, I am not seeing why a court would at this point terminate his parental rights. By your own account he's not permitted to contact you. Does this extend your child? What rights can he presently exercise while he is in jail? My view is if he continues to not exercise any of his present rights for an extended period of time, no less than a year, AND continues not to pay support then you MAY be able to file a motion terminating his rights. Were this matter in my state of OHIO the court would not count his period of incarceration against him for not exercising parental time as that is an impossibility.
Joshua Schiffer agrees with this answer
A:
The first step is to go to a local family lawyer you have good chemistry with, as this process is going to be intimate.
There are lots of good reasons to terminate parental rights, and you need to explore all of those with a trusted professional as well as the downsides to that move. The process itself is straightforward, and it all depends on the position of the other party. If they cant or wont participate in the process you will have a very strong case on top of the violence you will already be able to share with the court.
Get a LOCAL lawyer, thats where to start.
Best of Luck!
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