My husbands daughter came to live with us in April 2011. Now it is getting close to court date and the mother has stopped working her 60 hour work week and went part time and is wanting to sign over parental rights in order to not pay child support. I have done some research on line and found that she can petition, but it will be up to the judge to grant. It also stated that someone would have to adopt her inorder for the mother to release parental rights. What are the chances of a judge actually doing that? We live in Williamson County in Texas, they are tough on child support evaders and that is just what she is trying to do. How do we fight this and make her accountable for supporting her daughter? Also the daughter just turned 17 if that means anything. The mother is clearly doing everything to not pay child support.

Please advise. Thanks.

She can ASK for the sun and the moon - doesn't mean the court will GRANT the request. Courts aren't in the habit of letting a parent throw away the CHILD'S right to TWO parents - and especially if the reason is child support.

If dad wants to hold her accountable for child support, then if she's not paying as ordered by the court, he files a contempt motion and asks the court to hold her to the original support amount if she's willfully working less to evade support. Have dad Google the term "imputed child support".

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I agree. Have you browsed through the information in LawInfo's Free Legal Resource Center to learn more about your issue yet? See: http://www.lawinfo.com/consumer.html and http://resources.lawinfo.com/en/index.html. You can certainly try to speak to a lawyer to determine what legal options may be available. In the meantime, you may be able to learn more on your own. Search the "Free Legal Resources" tab, or browse the Consumer Resources. Good luck.