Santa Cruz Family Law Attorney

Adoption Law

A fundamental aspect of family law is to protect your loved ones. Adoption serves the same purpose by creating a parent-child relationship between you and your adopted child. It allows you to make sure you have parental rights like custody and your adopted child has rights such as inheritance.

Adoption creates a new relationship, but it also terminates the existing parent-child relationship. As such it requires either the consent of both biological parents or the court to terminate the parental rights of a non-consenting parent. If the parents give consent then we will arrange the final hearing to finalize the adoption.

If a biological parent will not give consent or cannot be located we can help you determine if it is possible to terminate their parental rights. In many cases an absent parent will give consent without tremendous difficulty, but if they refuse we will look at legal means of terminating their parental rights.

If your child has gone without contact and support from the absent biological parent for a significant period of time then that parent may be treated as an abandoned parent. Whether you need to terminate another parent’s rights or you wish to protect your own rights, I can help you understand the legal requirements of abandonment and advocate on your behalf in court.

Your family’s rights are important to you and we can help you determine if an adoption can help you protect those rights. Making sure your adopted children can inherit from you and making sure you have he same custody rights of a biological parent can help you protect your family.

Areas of Practice

Family Law

Estate Planning

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