What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY
My biological mother died when I was 1 year old, my brother was a few days old. My father remarried when I was three, and my stepmother "adopted" me and my brother, but it was not a legal adoption, they basically just registered us again, got rid of our old birth certificates and created new ones with her name on it. I never knew about this until I was about 10, when I accidentally stumbled upon a marriage certificate. It was pretty shocking to find out.
She got pregnant before she married my father, so I had a half-brother right away. My father is an alcoholic, extremely abusive, so the family was pretty dysfunctional. I never had a great relationship with this woman, but she was the only person I knew to be my mother. My father struggled financially all the time, but despite this, and despite the alcoholism and abuse, after 7 years of marriage she wanted to have another baby. She managed to convince my father, so they tried for a 4th kid. She had a natural abortion the first time, so she tried again and was successful the second time.
By the time I was 16 and enter my first year of high school, reality hits. She realized the first college tuition to be paid was mine, then my brother's, and then her son. This is when she finally started "planning" how to pay for college. Except, of course, she only planned for her two kids. She immediately filed for a divorce. At that point my father was building houses for a living, and had gotten a big bank loan for a specific house. The judge awarded her that house, leaving my father indebted for life. He begged her to let him sell the house, and offered to leave, but she declined.
My father was drinking a lot because of this, so I asked her if I could go live with her, to which she responded: "No. We can continue to see each other, but I'm no longer your mother." I was homeless ever since. I bounced from place to place, became incredibly depressed, wasn't able to finish college due to financial problems and depression. Meantime, my half-brother traveled the world, went to private university, and had a completely different life.
In retrospect, I can see this woman had an agenda. She wanted to have two children, pretend to have a happy family, and then send her two children to private schools. She would do this no matter what, and if that meant adopting us and then dumping us, it didn't matter.
My question is: Can she just get away with this? Or is there some kind of legal recourse?
Thanks.
My biological mother died when I was 1 year old, my brother was a few days old. My father remarried when I was three, and my stepmother "adopted" me and my brother, but it was not a legal adoption, they basically just registered us again, got rid of our old birth certificates and created new ones with her name on it. I never knew about this until I was about 10, when I accidentally stumbled upon a marriage certificate. It was pretty shocking to find out.
She got pregnant before she married my father, so I had a half-brother right away. My father is an alcoholic, extremely abusive, so the family was pretty dysfunctional. I never had a great relationship with this woman, but she was the only person I knew to be my mother. My father struggled financially all the time, but despite this, and despite the alcoholism and abuse, after 7 years of marriage she wanted to have another baby. She managed to convince my father, so they tried for a 4th kid. She had a natural abortion the first time, so she tried again and was successful the second time.
By the time I was 16 and enter my first year of high school, reality hits. She realized the first college tuition to be paid was mine, then my brother's, and then her son. This is when she finally started "planning" how to pay for college. Except, of course, she only planned for her two kids. She immediately filed for a divorce. At that point my father was building houses for a living, and had gotten a big bank loan for a specific house. The judge awarded her that house, leaving my father indebted for life. He begged her to let him sell the house, and offered to leave, but she declined.
My father was drinking a lot because of this, so I asked her if I could go live with her, to which she responded: "No. We can continue to see each other, but I'm no longer your mother." I was homeless ever since. I bounced from place to place, became incredibly depressed, wasn't able to finish college due to financial problems and depression. Meantime, my half-brother traveled the world, went to private university, and had a completely different life.
In retrospect, I can see this woman had an agenda. She wanted to have two children, pretend to have a happy family, and then send her two children to private schools. She would do this no matter what, and if that meant adopting us and then dumping us, it didn't matter.
My question is: Can she just get away with this? Or is there some kind of legal recourse?
Thanks.
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