My daughter is 11 years old and her dad wants to sign over rights and my husband wants to adopt her. Everyone is fine with this but I can't afford a lawyer and want know is there anyway i can do all this on my own and just pay the court fees. She is not close to her real dad at all and she didn't even meet him until she was almost 5. Keep in mind that it is her real dad that wants to give her up but he knows that my husband is a good man because they were best friends at one time and that is how i meet my husband and this is want she wants too. Please help any advise would be great!!

The two processes, adoption and termination of father's rights, need to go hand in hand. The adoption process will depend on the father being willing to allow the adoption, and the termination of rights will depend highly on there being an imminent adoption.

If the father is willing to bless the process, and everyone is in agreement, the process isn't terribly complicated. Step dad who wants to adopt can contact the clerk in the probate division of your local courts and will file a motion for adoption. As part of that process, the father will be notified that he has a chance to oppose the adoption if he wishes. (It's REALLY important that this notification be done properly.) Once dad responds to the court that he doesn't oppose the adoption, the court will consider the petition. If the petition is granted, then the adoption occurs, step dad becomes legal dad, the birth certificate is amended, and the adoption is final. Generally the courts wants to see that the child has lived with the adoptive parent for at least six months before the final granting.

__________________
While pointers can be helpful, ultimately the number one lesson in any legal action is: don't take legal advice from books, family, friends, co-workers, police officers, grocery clerks, web sites, or people on legal message boards. The only person who can give YOU legal advice is YOUR attorney.

http://www.aardvarc.org

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.