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step parent as guardian, KS

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mexicnmona

Guest
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Kansas
I am recently married. My husband as custody of two girls and I have custody of my son. My son has not had contact with his father in several years and child support is rare. My husband's girls have a mother who is trying to reestablish visits after two years. She has maintained contact by phone once weekly and also rarely pays child support . Both of us are scared of what might happen to our children if something were to happen to one of us. Is there a way to become a legal guardian of each others children with out having the permission of the non-custodial biological parent? We hope to look into adoption in the near future, but don't feel that either parent would willingly sign over rights at this time. Is this an option that would hold up in case of the death of either my spouse or I?
 


tigger22472

Senior Member
The only thing that can guarentee that you or your husband would get the others child/children in the case of death of one of you is the adoption. Guardianship could POSSIBLY be obtained but not without the bio's consent. In the case of your son the adoption could fare easy as he's not had contact and it could be done once he's notified (or attempt made) even if he contested. In the case of the other children it's not going to happen without her consent as she is now establishing contact. Also know that she could go 9 months without a CS or contact and ONE payment is considered contact. (Some states it's one year while others it's only 6 months, not sure about your state).
 
M

mexicnmona

Guest
Contact?

Thank you for your advice. I just wanted to clarify what you meant by contact. My son's father was recently jailed for his lack of child support payments and was then put on work release. I have been receiving biweekly payments now for about three months, but this is not the first time I've received payments consistently and then they abruptly stop. He has yet to contact me regarding visitation. The last attempt he made was through the court and our lawyers agreed to supervised visits with a counselor. He went to one session and didn't come back. (He claims the counselor wanted for us to do a session together and he didn't see the need to meet with me, only his son. I was not informed about this.)
My son's stepmother has made contact for the benefit of her other children. This is usually about Christmas. It is been this way for about 3 years. Last Christmas we met at McDonalds play center so the kids could play and I stayed so my son wouldn't feel uncomfortable. His father was there and this was the first time he laid eyes on him in years. Little contact was made as most of the time was spent with him sitting at a table watching and my son playing with his siblings and cousins.
Does this one visit harm us? What about yearly contact with other members of his family? Will this cause problems if he contests adoption? What happens to his $10,000 in arrears in case of adoption?
Thank you for your help.
 

tigger22472

Senior Member
The fact that he pays support, wether it's forced or not does harm the case some. The fact that he has seen his son does hurt it also but it's also a matter of that is his son legally and he has the right wether we like it or not (trust me, I've been there, done that). Having contact with other family members I don't believe hurts it (pretty sure I'm right but I could be wrong). As far as the arrearage it is owed until the end of time or until the SOL for it in your state runs out regardless of adoption.

There is a possibility that even with the forced child support adoption could take place if he contested but it's not guarenteed. In my case (not sure how it is for sure in your case) a letter was sent to the father. I will quote some of what it said.

"The petition for Adoption alleges that the consent to adoption of XXXX is not required because the father has failed without justifiable cause to provide any support for said minor children for a period of over sex months, and has abandoned the children, and has also, for a period of over one year, failed without justifiable cause to communicate at all with said minor children when he has been able to do so."

" If XXXX seeks tocontest the adoption of the children, XXXX must file a motion to contest the adoption in accordance with IC 31-19-10-1 in the above named court not later then 30 days after the date of service of this notice"

"No oral statement made to XXX relieves XXXX of XXX's obligations under this notice"

What in essence it said was he had to file in the court to contest it and that even if he called the children or went to the court house and said he didn't want it done it wouldn't matter, he had to file. Do you think he would agree if you asked him? There are ways of making it sound good. It is my belief and I might be blasted that little and off and on contact does more damage then no contact at all. You CAN try and drop the arrearage but if you ever owed the state money you can't drop it all anyways.

Hope this helped some.
 

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