No. In Georgia a parent whose rights have been terminated still owes child support until a final order of adoption is entered.
What the Statute Says
Under OCGA 15-11-261(a), an order terminating parental rights “shall divest the parent and his or her child of all legal rights, powers, privileges, immunities, duties, and obligations with respect to each other, except: (1) The right of such child to receive child support from his or her parent until a final order of adoption is entered.” So the money keeps coming until an adoption transfers the duty to someone else.
A Signed Surrender Ends Nothing
In Department of Human Resources v. Cowan, 220 Ga. App. 230 (1996), a father signed a surrender of his parental rights so that his ex-wife’s new husband could adopt the children, and stopped paying. The adoption was never finalized. The Court of Appeals held that his “surrender of parental rights and his consent for adoption did not release him from his support obligation,” because “we are aware of no law which permits a waiver of maintenance obligations by contract alone.”
Similarly, in Department of Human Resources v. Baker, 222 Ga. App. 664 (1996), the father believed for years that the adoption had gone through, but it had never been filed. He owed the arrears anyway: “He was obligated by law to support them until and unless a court order altered that obligation, his belief regarding their adoption notwithstanding.”
You Cannot Terminate Your Own Rights to Escape It
In Diegel v. Diegel, 261 Ga. App. 660 (2003), divorcing parents signed a contract under which the mother would petition to terminate the father’s rights and he would pay the costs. When she did not follow through, he sued for breach. The Court of Appeals held the contract void as “essentially an attempt to voluntarily abandon his parental responsibility.”
Once an adoption is final, the duty passes to the adoptive parent, covered in a separate post.
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This post is a quick overview of the law and is not intended as legal advice. Please feel free to contact our office for a consultation if you have questions about this or any other legal aspects regarding your case!