Court Authorized Adoption Despite Father's Objection

I had received a very suspect looking paper 3-4 years ago regarding my ex's wife's husband adopting my son. I objected to it but it went through anyways. How can this happen??

Have you had contact with the child and are you paying support? You didn't say what state your in but I know of several that have abandonment laws where a parents parental rights can be terminated if they haven't visited with or paid support to a child for a period of time. Once rights are terminated then the child can be adopted. Usually though a notice has to be put out there though so I don't know how it happened so quick. sounds like you need a lawyer to sort stuff out.

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Quoting babyfat5

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Have you had contact with the child and are you paying support? You didn't say what state your in but I know of several that have abandonment laws where a parents parental rights can be terminated if they haven't visited with or paid support to a child for a period of time. Once rights are terminated then the child can be adopted. Usually though a notice has to be put out there though so I don't know how it happened so quick. sounds like you need a lawyer to sort stuff out.

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The contact was/is very very limited but support paid every month of which I'm still paying (discussed in another thread) I'm in California and my son is in Oregon. I've been shut out and have tried to stay in contact only to be met with B.S. every time I tried. Basically I think everything was done underhandedly and I'm in the midst of fighting it..

You objected to the adoption, but you've really had no relationship with the child. The courts ultimately want to unify families, that's why it went through.

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Quoting kurtsstuff

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I had received a very suspect looking paper 3-4 years ago regarding my ex's wife's husband adopting my son. I objected to it but it went through anyways. How can this happen??

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did this just happen or did it happen 3-4 years ago and you are just how finding out about it?

If the latter, that explains why it happened.

btw: if you are still paying child support, you need to get the order modified or terminated. You may have a case for support already paid to be repaid to you.

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Quoting jk

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did this just happen or did it happen 3-4 years ago and you are just how finding out about it?

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Per the OP's other thread:

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Well..I found out 4-5 months ago that my ex wifes husband adopted my son. We haven't had much contact for that last 4-5 years but I have paid my child support without fail each month and paid extra to catch up on some arrears that I need to.

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He would like the child support to stop, which is what is motivating him to do something about it now.

well, I guess that would fall under the "latter" category in my post.

kurtsstuff; to get the CS stopped, you have to go to court and seek a termination of the CS order. Not a big deal and no real need for an attorney.

as to overpayments; once the adoption was finalized, the CS would have been able to be stopped. Their are only 3 reasons I know of where the CS would not stop:

1. the person paying the CS failed to go to court and have the CS order terminated.

2. the person paying CS was arrears and is simply paying what they owe.

3. the person receiving CS was on welfare at some time and the person paying still owes the state for the funds the other party received. That will continue until the state is paid off.

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Quoting jk

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well, I guess that would fall under the "latter" category in my post.

kurtsstuff; to get the CS stopped, you have to go to court and seek a termination of the CS order. Not a big deal and no real need for an attorney.

as to overpayments; once the adoption was finalized, the CS would have been able to be stopped. Their are only 3 reasons I know of where the CS would not stop:

1. the person paying the CS failed to go to court and have the CS order terminated.

2. the person paying CS was arrears and is simply paying what they owe.

3. the person receiving CS was on welfare at some time and the person paying still owes the state for the funds the other party received. That will continue until the state is paid off.

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In answer to some of the questions...Yes...there was little to no contact between myself and my son but not for a lack of trying. ( I should have tried harder)

I was in arrears but have been paying double amounts to get caught up but it accrues each month just like he was never adopted but...He was.

I tried to get my ex to just inform CSS of the adoption and they wouldn't which is not in their best interest because I'm over paid by about $8000.00-$10,000.00 give or take depending on when the adoption occured is my best guesstimate. I didn't care about overpaying and all I wanted was them to terminate the support but..They won't so...It's going to the next level and I will be seeking the over payment of which...If I am granted my overpaid support all I want out of it is my legal fee's and the remainder will be put into a CD or Savings type bond for my son. It's not about the money..It's about whats right!! Hell..I'm not even sure what "right" is at this point

if the child was adopted and you were not in arrears and the mother had not received welfare during the time you were required to pay CS, the right thing is that the CS be terminated and any CS paid for time beyond the termination be refunded to you.

Even if your ex informed the CSS about the adoption, they very well may not have stopped the CS until such time you sought and received a modification or termination of the original CS order. It was and is up to you to seek those changes, not your ex's. As to getting your attorneys fees; probably not since you failed to take any true action to have the CS terminated. You have the duty of mitigating your damages and you did not take the action that would have stopped the CS.

As to regaining the overpayments; most likely, you will have to sue in court. Small claims court is great if the amount is not beyond the jurisdiction of the court. If it is greater than that, you will either have to accept the limit of the small claims court or move to a higher court without the limitations.

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Quoting jk

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if the child was adopted and you were not in arrears and the mother had not received welfare during the time you were required to pay CS, the right thing is that the CS be terminated and any CS paid for time beyond the termination be refunded to you.

Even if your ex informed the CSS about the adoption, they very well may not have stopped the CS until such time you sought and received a modification or termination of the original CS order. It was and is up to you to seek those changes, not your ex's. As to getting your attorneys fees; probably not since you failed to take any true action to have the CS terminated. You have the duty of mitigating your damages and you did not take the action that would have stopped the CS.

As to regaining the overpayments; most likely, you will have to sue in court. Small claims court is great if the amount is not beyond the jurisdiction of the court. If it is greater than that, you will either have to accept the limit of the small claims court or move to a higher court without the limitations.

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Thanks for all your input....Going after the overpayment was not what I wanted to do and it could have been so easy if my Ex would just quit "Hatin" as it were. My hand was forced and have to follow through. Man...Why do people make things so hard and just out of spite??

Why you would ever think your ex is "hatin" on you is beyond me. You have done nothing that she should be hating on you for, except maybe not do everything within your power to have a relationship with your child. Which, you have to admit is not admirable at all. Don't elevate your own status, not in this situation, please.

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Quoting CourtClerk

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Why you would ever think your ex is "hatin" on you is beyond me. You have done nothing that she should be hating on you for, except maybe not do everything within your power to have a relationship with your child. Which, you have to admit is not admirable at all. Don't elevate your own status, not in this situation, please.

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I never meant to try and "elevate" my status here...She wanted me out of the picture once she remarried beforehand though...She was all about staying in contact etc,etc of which I did to the best of my ability..After the remarriage ..I somehow became the Anti christ?? I freely admit that I am not a "Model of fatherhood" by any stretch of the imagination and I'm not better than anybody or anything. I just tried to do the best I could with what I've been given only to find out that, I'm no longer entitled to anything and no longer the father of my son is a big pill to swallow and no....Not looking for sympathy either because I don't deserve any..I should have looked into this long ago but..Didn't know I needed to?? Maybe Ignorance is bliss huh?? lol!!
Just kidding...Thanks again for the input..