Future Child Support/Custody of Convicted Felon

[Mominbirmingham]

Because of the uniquness of my situation, I couldnt find anything similar in the message boards.

I am divorced and my ex-husband is set for Trial for 3 Felonies, which could carry 20-30 years if convicted.

My questions are:
1. Would I be able to ask the judge to give me sole custody and possibly even have him relinquish his parental rights?
2. If that were to happen, could my husband adopt my children?
3. Although he is currently unemployed, could the judge require him to use some of his liquid assets to send for Child support?

[TC]

Denpending on the stance your state's courts take on custody, I believe that depending on what type of felony your ex committed, the court would probably be inclined to entertain a sole custody petition.

To the best of my knowledge courts do not order parents to relinquish their rights unless there are very serious extenuating circumstances....that is normally something that the parent has to voluntarily do on their own.

Should a parent elect to relinquish their rights, your new hubby could adopt your child(ren) if he so chose and was willing to assume that kind of responsibility.

As for Child support....that would depend on what the current decree stipulates....if there was a set amount levied at some point in tem and your ex is now in arears, the court may elect to issue an order giving him X amount of time to pay.....but I am not sure they would try to dictate how he pay.  By the same token, if he is already facing 20+ years in jail I see very little that is going to motivate him to pay anything if he is not inclined to do so.

TC

[m_t]

A judge *could* involuntarily terminate his rights, but that's usually only in situations where he'd be deemed a danger to the child. Also, if his rights ARE terminated & your husband adopts, he's not going to be paying child support.