My children's father at one point agreed to sign the necessary paperwork needed in order for my husband to adopt my 3 children. Now, he states that he will only sign the papers if I paid him $10,000.00 I of course am not going to do this, but is what he wanting to do legal?
Please consult with an experienced adoption attorney in your state. A discussion with that attorney may allow you to see what options you might have for going forward without his consent. And, talking to an attorney should be considerably cheaper then the children's father's request for an illegal payment.
This is absolutely not legal. A person's consent to an adoption cannot be bought. That being said, you may have options to proceed with a stepparent adoption which may not require his consent. Whether you can file for this type of adoption depends on what your ex's legal status is -- is he a legal father, do you have sole legal and physical custody, were you married to him, is he the birth certificate, is there a court order stating what custody is, is he paying child support...etc etc. Also, many counties require you to be married at least a year prior to filing. I suggest googling stepparent adoption to find out more about the requirements or contact an attorney in or near your area that handles adoptions. Knowledge is power and the internet has a lot of resources.
Marian L. FaupelFamily Law AttorneyAnn Arbor, MI ·
It is improper for your husband to request $$$ to surrender his parental rights and/or for you to request this. In Michigan, you can only pursue a stepparent adoption if you have sole legal custody. If you have joint custody right now, you should consider filing a motion to modify that situation so that you have sole legal custody. You could use his request for money to support your motion to modify legal custody as it shows how interested your ex is in parenrting the children.
