Husband Wants To Adopt My Daughter (please read details).

My husband and I separated mid September 2015. We are working on our marriage now and things are going beautifully. While separated, I became pregnant with ny youngest daughter who is no biologically his. Her father lived off of me and my family and made promises to better his life for her but used all of us and cheated on me repeatedly. We "broke up" November 2016 and my husband and I decided that we were going to work on our marriage January 2017. My daughters father has not seen her since November 2016 since he moved from Texas where we were back to Arizona where he is from to try to better things there to get himself in the military which he still hasn't and has continuously lied about that as well. He has not supported her in any way since March 2017. I had attempted to put him on child support and he said he didn't receive the papers even though I sent them to the address he provided me and he also did not show up to the court hearing even though I told him exactly when it was going to be and told him that the papers would be at how house the day they attempted to deliver them. I now live in Arizona as well (no more than 15 minutes from him) and he does not make a sincere attempt to see our daughter. He has dodged child support and has said he doesn't know why we have to go through the courts since him and his other baby's mother don't go through the courts and they just do whatever between them. He does not help even though I have asked him to help with her child care that I had to pay out of pocket numerous of times. I am tired of wasting time and money when he is just going to run me through the loop. My husband has actually built a relationship with my daughter who is now 1-years-old and 2 months. I was still legally married when I had my daughter. We signed an affidavit for paternity but it was never taken to be processed so her biological father's name is not on her birth certificate and my husband is LEGALLY her father even though his name is not on her certificate and her last name is the last name of her biological father's and not mines or my husband's last name. We want to do a stepparent adoption but don't know how we should go about doing it. Some have told us that it will be very easy considering what is at hand but I just want to have some guidance or possibly stories of others who may have gone through the same as we. Thank you all so very much in advance. I truly appreciate everything.

I might be a little bit confused, so feel free to clarify if I'm wrong. But since your husband is legally her father, I don't think he would need to do a step parent adoption. It sounds to me like you would just need to legally change your daughter's name. To do this you would just need to fill out a deed poll and it shouldn't be a huge issue. If the birth certificate is very important to you, I still am not sure you would actually need to do an 'adoption' since again, your husband is the legal father. You would just need to contact the vital records department and ask to have your husband's name be put on the certificate. An adoption means that a child's legal parents are changed- but your daughter has had the same legal parents the whole time. This blog post might be helpful

Thank you so much for this information. We didn't know if it would be legal to do that because that is what we were going to originally do. I had told her biological father that my husband was going to adopt her and he said he was going to contest and take me to court even though he did not try to work with me and even dodged setting up paternity (acknowledgement) and also would not pickup the court documents I had sent him certified mail. I have asked him multiple times if he wanted to see my daughter (we've lived no more than 15 minutes away for the past 6 month) and he always comes up with an excuse and then said I was not letting him see her because he asked to see her on her birthday and I told him that I had already had plans I had made long before (which I did). It's his way or no way. He had mentioned numerous times that he does not want to go through the courts for child support or anything else and now that adoption has been put in front of him he is threatening to go to family courts (for what he has not made clear). Thank you so much. I am going to see what we can do. Please pray all goes well. I just want what's best for my baby girl. She deserves it.

Annaleece is correct. In Texas, if you are married, your husband is the legal father, period. Get the affidavit of Paternity, follow the instructions and mail it in. You're done. It's $25. They will record the corrected birth certificate, then you can request a copy. In this instance, it is very cut and dry. If the birthfather then comes around and claims paternity -- he'll have to foot the cost of proving it, etc. Since you said he's lazy, I can't imagine him putting much, if any effort into asserting his rights. What has been suggested is NOT illegal. Texas is very clear when it comes to married couples having a child, even if the father is someone else. Just go for it and let the absent father play catch up and try to get it turned around. Once it's done, it is virtually IMPOSSIBLE to reverse without lengthy and expensive legal proceedings.