I'm in desperate need of help. I have tried so hard to settle my son's father & myself's differences...needless to say it's just not working. He pays child support like ordered but things have gotten pretty bad. He doesn't want our son and admitted that he would rather just sign over his rights. We've talked about it and I definitely think that it would be in the best interest for our son. (For many reasons, some personal.) I have no idea how to go about doing this or how to even get started. We went through the Attorney General's office for child support so I never had to get a lawyer but this situation is totally different. Please can any one give me some help. I don't believe in the "easy way out" but I do believe in the mental and emotional well-being of my son so I do completely agree with his dad that this is something that needs to be done.

If he doesn't want to exercise his rights regarding the child, all he has to do is decline to do so. Courts care about the CHILD'S right to the support of two parents, in case one of you gets hit by a bus. A judge, and only a judge, can deprive the child of that right. Unless you are married, AND your spouse wishes to adopt the child, or, unless dad has a criminal history of crimes against children or is looking at decades of incarceration, or is otherwise deemed an unfit parent (which requires quite a lot, actually), then no court is going to just let dad walk away. If he doesn't want his son, he's free to walk away and pretend he doesn't exist, however the court isn't going to let him stop supporting the child financially untl there is a replacement parent (ie married to you). He's free to write the check and forget the rest.

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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

I kind of thought that might be the case. If I did try to still persue this would any of this matter? He's back with his ex, they have two children together, 6 and almost 4. I know they've had CPS or DHS (in Oklahoma) called at least once on them and I think maybe a second time also. She's also called this cops on him for many reason, one being domestic violence. Would any of that possibly help me out?

Irrelevent

Irrelevent, except that it MIGHT impact the amount of support.

Calls means nothing. What the court cares about is the outcome of any investigation. Unless CPS took some form of action, it's just "calls".

Again, a call is just a call. Was there an arrest? A conviction? If so, it might have bearing if dad WANTED visitation with his child. If there are accusations of violence in the home, it would give you ammunition to ask the court to make dad's visitation be supervised. But it won't have any bearing on his parental responsibility to support his child, whether he sees the child or not.

__________________
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

I agree with aardvarc on this one. The courts typically do not just allow a parent to sign over rights for a way to get out of child support. 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.