Understanding Parental Rights
Identify legitimate reasons for giving up parental rights. You cannot give up your rights just because you feel like it. Instead, a Texas judge must determine that it is in the “best interests of the child” to terminate the rights. Because terminating your rights would leave the child with one parent, Texas judges are unlikely to terminate your parental rights unless there is a legitimate reason. The most frequent reason a judge will terminate parental rights is that there is another person willing to adopt the child, usually the custodial parent’s partner. By giving up your rights, you make way for the other person to adopt the child and become the legal parent. Another situation where you can give up your rights is when Child Protective Services (CPS) believes that you are a threat to the custodial parent and child. In that situation, CPS will move to involuntarily terminate your parental rights. If you agree with CPS that your rights should be terminated, then you could voluntarily relinquish them by not fighting the termination.
Realize that avoiding child support is not a valid reason. Few judges will find that it is in the child’s best interests to have only one means of financial support.< States are afraid that the child might end up on public assistance if your child support obligations are terminated. Accordingly, few judges will allow you to relinquish your parental rights for this reason.
Understand the consequences of relinquishing parental rights. Once you relinquish parental rights, you no longer will have a say in how the child is raised, including the child’s education, religious upbringing, or where the child lives. Although the other parent might agree to allow you to see the child, you are not guaranteed that right as a matter of law.
Talk with the other parent. If you are thinking about giving up your parental rights, then you should talk it over with the other parent. Even where the other parent agrees that you can give up your rights, a judge must still approve that decision. However, if the other parent is married to someone who wants to adopt the child, then you should work together on drafting your petition to the court.
Meet with a lawyer. You should talk over your options with a qualified family law attorney. A lawyer can offer advice going forward on petitioning the court to terminate your rights. To find an experienced family law attorney in your area, contact the Texas Bar Association, which runs a referral program. The phone number for the referral service is (800) 252-9690. Someone is available Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm Central Standard Time. Many parents desire to give up parental rights to avoid child support. Since a judge will not terminate your rights for that reason, you should talk over other options with your lawyer. Your lawyer might have creative ideas for temporarily suspending payments or reducing the amount of child support. For example, you can petition the court to reduce the payments until you find a better-paying job.
Filing a Petition with the Court
Draft a petition. You or the custodial parent will need to file a petition in court to terminate your parental rights. Since relinquishment of rights will typically happen along with an adoption suit, the custodial parent can prepare the petition. The petition to terminate will be included with the petition for the adoption. They will be a joint document. For this reason, you should have the other parent’s attorney draft the petition. As the parent hoping to give up their parental rights, you will need to sign an “Affidavit of Relinquishment of Parental Rights.” You may hire an attorney to draft it for you or you could have the other parent’s lawyer draft it and then look it over with your own attorney.
Draft your own affidavit. If you do not want to work with a lawyer, then you can try to draft your Affidavit yourself. Texas law lays out certain requirements for the “Affidavit of Relinquishment of Parental Rights.” You should make sure that your affidavit contains the following: your name, county of residence, and age the child’s name, age, and birth date whether you are currently obligated by court order to make child support payments a description of all property owned by the child and its value your belief that termination is in the best interests of the child the name and county where the other parent resides an acknowledgement that you have been informed of parental rights and duties whether the relinquishment is revocable and the timeframe for revocation (put in bold type) who revocation must be made to, if you exercise it the name of the prospective adoptive parent whether you waive service of process for a prospective adoption suit
Sign the affidavit. You must sign the affidavit in front of at least two witnesses. You must also have the Affidavit notarized. Notary publics can be found at most courthouses and in large banks. You and your witnesses should bring sufficient personal identification to show the notary. Usually, a valid driver’s license or passport is sufficient.
Create a medical history report. Parents who relinquish their parental rights must complete a medical history report.. The form will ask about the medical history of you, your parents, and other relatives like aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc. You should take sufficient time to go through the report and complete it accurately. You will need to report whether your family has had birth defects, allergies, eye or dental problems, as well as developmental, circulatory, or hormonal disorders. Once you complete the report, return it to the other parent’s attorney, who will need to file it.
File the petition with the court. Either you or the custodial parent will need to file the petition and supporting affidavits with the court. If you waived service of process in your Affidavit, then you will not receive notice if the other parent files the motion. Although you generally are entitled to notice whenever a motion or petition is filed that impacts your rights, you can waive that service of process since you know that you are giving up your parental rights to facilitate the adoption. You may have to pay a filing fee in order to terminate your parental rights. The fee can vary, depending on the county, but should cost a few hundred dollars. You should contact the court clerk and ask. In Tarrant County, for example, you must pay $315.00. In Dallas County, you will pay $318.00. In Harris County, the fee is $267.00. This fee may be included in the fee for the adoption suit. If so, then you and the custodial parent should decide between yourselves how to split the cost of the fee. If you cannot afford the filing fees, then ask for a fee waiver form and fill it out.
Attend a hearing. You may have to attend a hearing to answer any questions that the judge has. Whether you have to attend a hearing will depend on the court and other circumstances. Be sure to dress conservatively. Men should wear slacks with a dress shirt or a solid color polo. Shirts should be tucked in, and you should wear a belt. Always wear dress shoes and socks. Keep you facial hair trimmed and comb your hair. Women should wear business casual attire: slacks or skirts with a nice blouse. A conservative dress is acceptable is well. Avoid clothing that is too revealing. Do not show your bare shoulders or too much cleavage. Always wait for a judge to stop asking a question before answering, and be sure to address the judge as “Judge” or “Your Honor.”
Sign papers. You may have to sign papers with the court to relinquish your rights. This will depend on the court. Ask for a copy of any papers that you sign. You also should receive a copy of the court order terminating your parental rights. If you did not need to attend a hearing, then contact the other parent or the court clerk if you do not receive a copy of the order. After your rights are terminated, the child will then be adopted by his or her step-parent. However, you will have no role to play in the adoption proceeding once you have relinquished your rights.
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