Question:   My former husband doesn't want to pay child support anymore and he said he'd give up his parental rights.  He's always late with his child support payments and he sometimes won't pay for months at a time.  He owes me a lot of money and I don't know if I'll ever get paid what's due.

Although he makes a lot of money as a stock broker in Buckhead and he invests in restaurants, it seems like our son comes last.  He'd rather go out to eat or buy booze or go to a Braves or Falcons game than pay support.  He's been like a deadbeat for years. 

I recently got married and my new husband wants to adopt our son.  I'd really like him to adopt and it will make everything so much easier.  My ex-husband uses bad judgment and I think let our son try alcohol and my son mentioned something about a strip club in midtown Atlanta, so I'm concerned.  It would be great to have the ex out of our lives.

I need to know about how my new husband can adopt my son.

G.F. in Atlanta, GA

Answer:   Your new husband can adopt your son.  To do that, your former husband will first have to have his parental rights terminated.  After the parental rights are terminated, then your new spouse can adopt your son.

To adopt a child under Georgia law, a parent (or sometimes both parents) must relinquish their parental rights.  Once that happens, another person (or couple) can proceed with the adoption. 

We have helped step-parents adopt, and we have helped uncles, aunts, grandparents and others with adoption issues. 

On many occasions a parent wishes to give-up parental rights so that he or she no longer has a child support obligation.  Of course, there can be other reasons to terminate parental rights.

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