In Georgia, marrying a child’s parent gives a stepparent no legal relationship with the child. Adoption is the only way to create one.
Marrying the Parent Is Not Enough
In Veal v. Veal, 281 Ga. 128 (2006), a husband was present at the child’s birth, put his name on her birth certificate, married her mother afterward, and raised her. When the marriage ended, the trial court gave him custody. The Georgia Supreme Court reversed. He was neither the biological nor the legal father, and the route he should have taken “was through the formal adoption process.”
What the Statute Requires
Under OCGA 19-8-6(a)(1), where both parents are living but no longer married to each other, a stepparent may adopt only when the other parent “voluntarily and in writing surrenders all of his or her rights to the child to that spouse for the purpose of enabling that spouse to adopt the child.”
The stepparent petitions alone, even though a married petitioner ordinarily files in both spouses’ names. OCGA 19-8-3(b).
When the Other Parent Will Not Sign
OCGA 19-8-10(b) lets the court grant the adoption anyway on clear and convincing evidence that the parent, “for a period of one year or longer immediately prior to the filing of the petition for adoption, without justifiable cause, has significantly failed” to communicate meaningfully with the child or to provide care and support as required by law or court order, and that adoption is in the child’s best interests. The burden is the stepparent’s.
That parent is still entitled to be heard. In Hafer v. Lowry, 320 Ga. App. 76 (2013), the judge cut off the father’s evidence mid-hearing, said he had “heard enough,” and granted the adoption. The Court of Appeals vacated the decree: “adoption laws must be strictly construed in favor of natural parents.”
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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!