How to Terminate a Father's Parental Rights

[Trena]

My question involves paternity law for the State of: Texas
Ok so I know I have a mess so please don't judge me or write any judgmental comments
So I am married( since 2001) we split in 2005 I got into a relationship in the end of 05 and had a baby in 06. The bio father DID sign the birth certificate but has had NOTHING to do with my son since we split in 07. So in 2009 I got into a new relationship and he wants to adopt my son (Please know that my sons bio father is a piece of CRAP, he never supported him in anyway and I never asked him for cash, I only asked him to be a part of his sons life. I even would take my son to see him for the weekend, my new bf even gave him gas money to help him see him). Now he is back in jail and is looking at doing at least 4 years. My question is how would I go about getting his parental rights relinquished? Is it abandonment? He has not seen him since the Easter of 2010. I am still married to my ex so they consider him my sons legal father.. Eventually my bf ( who will be my husband as soon as I am divorced) wants to adopt him.
I know this sounds horrible but I am not a bad person and only wanna do right by my child.

[Mr. Knowitall]

Once you marry your boyfriend and meet the statutory requirements for stepparent adoption, you can see if dad will consent or if you have grounds to terminate dad's parental rights to allow the adoption to proceed. It's exceptionally unlikely that the court is going to remove the father's parental rights with no new spouse stepping into the role of father.

[KenjaminK]

You actually sound like a wonderful person who's finding a suitable father figure for her child the right way. If you found a man that's more willing and able to take on your child to love and support as his own when the father doesn't want anything to do with him and is in prison, you deserve a mother of the year award or something. That's what many mothers (and sons of single mothers such as myself) strive to do, but it's really hard, so props!

Anyway, it sounds like you have two separate issues here if I'm reading it right. So, what part of the Texas government exactly is assuming your husband is the father even though the biological father is named on the birth certificate and everything? You're going to need to fix that by contacting whatever agency is wrongly making that assumption and finally divorcing your husband will probably also help. I was born in Nevada and my dad isn't on the birth certificate because they weren't married and as soon as they got married he was suddenly my dad since it's just blindly (and moronically) assumed that children involved in marriages are the reason for the marriage. lol It sounds like something similar happened to you and when you get divorced, you'll be able clarify in the proceedings that your husband was not the biological father. After that, I'd imagine marrying your boyfriend would help and then you'll just have to see if you can get the father to willingly relinquish his rights or petition to have them stripped considering he's in jail/a piece of crap. If your son's old enough, something from him stating that he considers your boyfriend his dad and wants him to be his real father would probably help. You might do good getting a divorce lawyer that's also experienced with adoption law so that you can do it all with the same lawyer and efficiently.