stepparent adoption-bio father is incarcerated

What is the name of your state? Georgia

i have a friend who wants to adopt his girlfriend's child - they will be married by 2004. the bio dad is incarcerated on drug charges and in the past has made threats to the mom. the mom does not want his involvement in the adoption if possible, as she fears for her safety and the safety of her child. he has never had any contact with the child or offered financial support, and he is not listed on the birth certificate. is there any way the mom can go about terminating the biodad's rights without having direct involvement with him? how does being an incarcerated felon affect the adoption process?

[stealth2]

For starters, the adoption won't be able to take place until after they're married - often for at least a year. Then, the biofather will have to be notified.

First to terminate rights, rights would have to have been established and since bio dad isn't on the birth certificate nor has he paid support, this makes things a bit different.

She needs a good family law attorney and also as a general rule step-parent adoption cannot occur until the marriage has been in existence for at least a year.

I if he is incarcerated, he can't hurt her for the moment, but she needs to proceed with the wedding and then seek the advice of a good family law attorney.

I doubt she will be able to terminate his rights without him being notified unless she is willing to outright lie and say that she has no knowledge of his whereabouts and then she has to make attempts to locate him for at least 30 days I think.

He may be a mean SOB but I don't think she can do it without telling him.

If he's never had any contact, he may not care. This also proves abandonment making termination much more likely. But again the step-adoption can't occur for I believe a year post marriage.