Regaining Custody of Biological Child from a Step Parent That Adopted

[BigRedsNun]

I'll start off saying that I am asking this for someone else.

The situation is this, my friend had a child but was not with the childs biological mother. He married someone else and when the child was 4 months old he gained custody from the biological mother. Around 18 months later due to problems in the relationship him and his wife separated, but this is during the process of his wife adopting the child. The wife calls him and asks that he not say anything about their being separated, because it could interfere with the adoption process. After about a month the wife agrees that my friend can come back into the household, with in two weeks of him coming back the adoption is finalized.

Following the adoption she proceeds to separate their bank accounts and sees to it that my friend has a vehicle of his own, seeing as how they only had one between the two of them, approx. a month and a half after the adoption finalized she filed for divorce and wins custody of the child.

What my friend is needing to know is if this constitutes a fraudulent adoption, because of how close the adoption and divorce were, and the actions she took after the finalizing? And if not why he wouldn't have received custody, being the childs biological parent? And if there would be any chance of regaining custody of the child?

thank you for your time on this matter.

[mamabear2102003]

Please list your state.

Did your friend bring this up during the divorce proceedings? Why did he agree to move forward with the adoption while knowing that his marriage was in trouble?

[Dogmatique]

I'll start off saying that I am asking this for someone else.

The situation is this, my friend had a child but was not with the childs biological mother. He married someone else and when the child was 4 months old he gained custody from the biological mother. Around 18 months later due to problems in the relationship him and his wife separated, but this is during the process of his wife adopting the child. The wife calls him and asks that he not say anything about their being separated, because it could interfere with the adoption process. After about a month the wife agrees that my friend can come back into the household, with in two weeks of him coming back the adoption is finalized.

Following the adoption she proceeds to separate their bank accounts and sees to it that my friend has a vehicle of his own, seeing as how they only had one between the two of them, approx. a month and a half after the adoption finalized she filed for divorce and wins custody of the child.

What my friend is needing to know is if this constitutes a fraudulent adoption, because of how close the adoption and divorce were, and the actions she took after the finalizing? And if not why he wouldn't have received custody, being the childs biological parent? And if there would be any chance of regaining custody of the child?

thank you for your time on this matter.

Assuming the adoption was finalized in court, legally, and it happened in the US...it's a done deal and it would NOT be considered fraudulent.

Dad apparently agreed to finalizing it even going through the separation; that's his choice. The fact that Mom "did the dirty" afterwards is really not the point.

Mom is LEGALLY Mom. Biology matters not at this point.

Dad of course can contest custody but there would need to be a change in the child's circumstance in order to change the status quo.

[BigRedsNun]

This is in Oklahoma.

He proceeded with the adoption because they had agreed to work out their difference, the separation was a physical one not legal, they even agreed on marriage counseling unders her suggestion. He brought this up to his lawyer during the divorce, but his lawyer said he didn't have a leg to stand on.

[Dogmatique]

The attorney was correct.

My answer stands

[mamabear2102003]

Dog, once again, has said it all. Google 'fraudulent adoption' and you will see that none of the conditions apply to this case. Your friend made a decision to co parent with his wife, and an adoptive parent has the same rights to a child as a bio parent, no distinctions, in the case of divorce.

[BigRedsNun]

What if the attorney in charge of the adoption knew that my friend and his wife were separated during the adoption process? And also knew that my friends wife was planning on divorcing my friend(which is actually suspected in this case). Does a child's preadoption history only apply to their health in a case like this?

[Dogmatique]

Honestly, fraud does NOT apply here.

The guy KNEW he was separated, but decided to go ahead anyway.

It doesn't matter what happened afterwards.