Custody for father of children born out of wedlock?

[hagatha]

Soc,

In this situation where the bio-mother has all but abandoned the children, can the father petition for primary custody and request the his wife be named as a guardian also?

Would that require a seperate petition?

The Witch

[socrateaser]

>Soc,
>
>In this situation where the bio-mother has all but abandoned
>the children, can the father petition for primary custody and
>request the his wife be named as a guardian also?
>
>Would that require a seperate petition?
>
>The Witch

The custodial parent can delegate guardianship of the child without a court order. A power of attorney can give a delegated guardian any and/or all of the powers of the custodial parent. So, there's no reason to go to court for a power already granted.

The better process, imho, here is to modify custody to make the de facto parent, the legal custodian, and then negotiate with the other parent to voluntarily relinquish her parental rights in favor of the step parent. All of this can happen simultaneously if the parties are amicable. And, while they may not start out amicable, if the mother in this case is not interested in visiting the child, then it's quite possible that she may not want to spend money fighting over the issue or continuing to pay support.

[Archy]

Thanks for the input.

We went Friday to sign papers.  Our lawyer decided against the de facto custodian thing (I forget why, probably your same reasoning Soc) and went back to what she thought in the beginning.  My husband signed the petition for custody, and I signed the petition for adoption.  Now, I'm not too sure about the court process, but we received a copy in the mail Saturday saying that my husband's petition had been filed.  If we didn't receive one for the adoption does that mean it was rejected?

[socrateaser]

>didn't receive one for the adoption does that mean it was
>rejected?

No. Just means that  one court clerk is slower than the other clerk.

[Archy]

>No. Just means that  one court clerk is slower than the other
>clerk.
>
Ahhh, thank you.  That's a relief!!