Attorney fees

[Funlovin]

I have been seperated from my husband for about 3 years - we have had seperation papers for about a year and a half. The military handled the seperation but could not represent me in court becasue his term had expired. How could I go about getting my divorce done and not be over charged? I have been quoted almost $600 and all I really need is a court date, everything has been agreed to and I don't even know where he is anymore. Is that really the going rate for that, because it seems a little extreme to me.
I also was told to have his rights terminated (weither he agrees or disagrees) would cost me about $1000. Can't he just sign away his rights on his own and it not cost us anything? Or does he have to be represented in a hearing to do that? He hasn't paid me any child support or called in about a year.


Thanks!
Anna
(South Carolina)

 

[LegalBeagle]

I have been seperated from my husband for about 3 years - we have had seperation papers for about a year and a half. The military handled the seperation but could not represent me in court becasue his term had expired. How could I go about getting my divorce done and not be over charged? I have been quoted almost $600 and all I really need is a court date, everything has been agreed to and I don't even know where he is anymore. Is that really the going rate for that, because it seems a little extreme to me.
I also was told to have his rights terminated (weither he agrees or disagrees) would cost me about $1000. Can't he just sign away his rights on his own and it not cost us anything? Or does he have to be represented in a hearing to do that? He hasn't paid me any child support or called in about a year.


Thanks!
Anna
(South Carolina)

$600 is cheap.. take it and run.

You can not terminate his rights. If he has not paid CS then take him to court for contempt.

 

[Funlovin]

Thanks

Well if $600 is cheap then I will go for it! Still seems high but I guess that is to be expected.
I don't want to terminate his rights, I want him to! I want him to tell whomever he has to that he no longer wants the resposibility, because he obviously doesn't. I don't want to take him to court for the child support because I would much rather have him completely out of our lives. He is at the moment but I am scared once the divorce is final he is going to start showing up again- not a good thing!
I was really hoping for some better news on that one.

 

[LegalBeagle]

Re: Thanks

Well if $600 is cheap then I will go for it! Still seems high but I guess that is to be expected.
I don't want to terminate his rights, I want him to! I want him to tell whomever he has to that he no longer wants the resposibility, because he obviously doesn't. I don't want to take him to court for the child support because I would much rather have him completely out of our lives. He is at the moment but I am scared once the divorce is final he is going to start showing up again- not a good thing!
I was really hoping for some better news on that one.

He can also not terminate his PR.. if it was that easy all deadbeat parents would do it to get out of paying CS. Just make sure you have a CS order in place. At least that gives you some leverage if he makes trouble in the future.. however, you should always be open to him making an effort to see the child providing he backs it up with actions.

 

[Funlovin]

Termination of Parental Rights

So was this attorney lying when he said it would take $1000 to go to court and have his rights terminated? I thought that there were laws in place to protect the child in case of cases like these. He hasn't called nor paid child support in about a year, and the attorney told me that in SC cases like this can be started after 6 months of non payment. (In some states I have heard of a parent having the other parents rights terminated with out them even knowing. By just placing an ad when there will be a hearing and if they don't show to contest it, they terminate their rights.) My fiance wants to adopt my son after I divorce and we marry. I don't think any deadbeat father should be allowed to terminate his rights - this puts the custodial parent in a huge bind. In my case however where I would be willing to agree to the termination - this should be a whole other story. I also believe he would be willing to have those rights gone, its not like he uses them anyway.
Also, if I go to court for the divorce and I don't bring up the back child support, can I bring it up later, or is it harder? If I can't have his rights taken away, at least the fact that he owes so much money can keep him away. But if I have to make it an issue at the divorce, I am afraid he will want to start seeing him again just because he is paying money - not because he loves him and wants to take care of him. I don't mean to sound so nasty about this - but he really is a bad influence on my son and the last time he had him, I did not get to even speak to my son for an entire month! I don't want that to happen again!