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Voluntary Surrender of Child Rights and Custody

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lanewhite

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Missouri - Arkansas

Our daughter wants to relinquish parental rights and custody to her mother and I. She resides in Missouri, we will soon be in the process of moving about three hours away to Arkansas. What do we need to legally obtain permanent custody? Is it better to do it in one state over another? Any thoughts are appreciated.
 


Proserpina

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Missouri - Arkansas

Our daughter wants to relinquish parental rights and custody to her mother and I. She resides in Missouri, we will soon be in the process of moving about three hours away to Arkansas. What do we need to legally obtain permanent custody? Is it better to do it in one state over another? Any thoughts are appreciated.


Where is the child's father?

(Mom cannot unilaterally sign over custody)
 

stealth2

Under the Radar Member
Then she will need to try and serve every possible man she knocked boots with first. Yay.
 

lanewhite

Junior Member
there is one highly likely candidate, he has denied paternity, we have tried to have him served for dna (3 x's), he has refused to sign the birth certificate, has never seen him, moves from place to place to avoid DFS servers to compel a dna test (will quit his job and move) - he is a real prince of a guy, it has been three years over trying to get him to "man" up, to no avail either by us or the authorities.
 

lanewhite

Junior Member
he won't sign anything - even a document signing away his rights, because that, in essence, is him admiting he is the father.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
there is one highly likely candidate, he has denied paternity, we have tried to have him served for dna (3 x's), he has refused to sign the birth certificate, has never seen him, moves from place to place to avoid DFS servers to compel a dna test (will quit his job and move) - he is a real prince of a guy, it has been three years over trying to get him to "man" up, to no avail either by us or the authorities.
I would recommend consulting with a local attorney. I have seen some cases where it wasn't necessary to serve the father if there was no father listed on the birth certificate. A local attorney can best tell you what is necessary for your state. Its going to have to be handled in Missouri anyway.
 

Proserpina

Senior Member
he won't sign anything - even a document signing away his rights, because that, in essence, is him admiting he is the father.


So Mom first needs to serve him with paternity papers.

If he refuses service, Mom can get permission from the court to serve him via publication. Once that has been done, if he doesn't turn up in court he will be declared the father by default.

THEN Mom can notify him regarding custody.

Or, she can speak with a local attorney to see if there's a way around establishing paternity where she can serve a John Doe publication notice regarding custody.

Either way, this isn't going to be a do-it-yourself project.
 

Silverplum

Senior Member
I would recommend consulting with a local attorney. I have seen some cases where it wasn't necessary to serve the father if there was no father listed on the birth certificate. A local attorney can best tell you what is necessary for your state. Its going to have to be handled in Missouri anyway.
I, for one, would LOVE to see an article, legal cite, SOMETHING about just one of the cases you are discussing in this thread.

Please and thank you.
 

Just Blue

Senior Member
I, for one, would LOVE to see an article, legal cite, SOMETHING about just one of the cases you are discussing in this thread.

Please and thank you.
State specific would be a plus. Although Ld has stated that asking for statutes and case law is a "game". :(
 

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