Voluntary Termination

Voluntary Termination is exactly what it sounds like, everyone agrees that a parent's rights should be terminated, but the mother and the father. It doesn't matter which parent's rights are being terminated. What is important, is what happens after the termination. 

I often receive phone calls from dads (and moms!) stating that they want to terminate their rights so they don't have to pay child support. I don't judge. There are all sorts of reasons people find themselves in these situations. There are two possible outcomes when this happens, either the other parent is in agreement and has someone willing to step in as the adoptive parent, or they agree, but do not have someone willing to step in as an adoptive parent. If there's an agreement for a stepparent to step in once the parent's rights are terminated, it's a fairly straight forward process and the Court's will usually grant the termination, assuming there are no issues with the prospective adoptive parent.

In the event there is no one willing or able to step in as an adoptive parent, the Court's are leery to terminate a parent's rights, even if both parents agree that it's in the child's best interest. One Judge has stated it quite bluntly, "I don't like to bastardize a child, even if the parent's think it's a good idea." In these situations, there may still be options, but termination may not be appropriate. Call The TIsdale Law Firm at (254) 634-8600 to schedule a free consultation with an attorney to discuss those options.