new husband wants to adopt my daughter

[fitmum]

my new husband has been step dad for 4 years and xp has had nothing to do with my daughter for almost 5 years and only pays child support through deductions of earnings as he refused to pay for over 3 years is it possible for my new husband to adopt?

I think it is possible for him to adopt or you could do a name change by deed poll to make her feel more like hes her dad.

You will both have to adopt her as a couple - you surrender her birth certificate and get back an adoption certificate. Your xp will have to agree to it in writing.

He will even need to consent to the change of name by deep poll.

I am in the same quandry myself, unlikely to get any co-operation from ex-dh (who is also refusing to pay child support, is self-employed so has also avoided deduction from earnings, and now has 5 years arrears built up....)

im not 100% sure but if her father hasnt been in contact for 6 years then he loses his rights to her anyway or you dont need his permission or something.

another option is to declare her new name in your local paper and change it at school and docs then you can get a passport in that name . that said you will have to look into it more as im not sure on the details hth

posyparker- i had that problem with dd1 father . he didnt pay for 8 years . they will only pay maintainance from when they get in contact with the missing parent . i was back dated 4 months !!

advice on step-parents adoption here

Is there a reason why you want your dh to adopt rather than getting a parental responsibility order? It would be much less hassle than adoption and your dd would still end up with a that legal relationship to your dh. The court would almost certainly grant it, as your dd has been living with him for 4 years, it is in her interest to have that legal link.

Here is a leaflet on how to get parental responsibility for your partner's children.

I suppose I have to ask, but what does your daughter think aobut this ?

I'm not a lawyer, but there are some clear advantages to your daughter being adopted.
If your husband gets things like private health, this usually only covers his biological or adopted kids.

Also if you both die, then there are potential issues in what your daughter inherits. This is mildly complex, and whatever you do, you should have a new will.
I understand that marriage invalidates previous wills.
There are various bits of bureaucracy that must be signed by a parent of guardian. I doubt a school will refuse to deal with a step dad though. My forms for junior school wewre signed by my 13 year od sister, and it took 15 years for me to spot that because she'd spelt my name wrong, I'd reached university unable to spell my own name

my husband adopted my son and it has been great we had no problems well the only thing I didnt like is that we had to ask his biological father as I was married to him at the time to give his permission for him to be adopted but the only thing is you have to adopt him as a couple. if you have been married a year you can do that now. Or you can start applying 6 months after you have been married but they wont start procedings for a year.

I was adopted by my dad after he married my mum. I have never had any contact with my biological father. It made me the same as my brother and sister (born after the adoption) and my dad is all the dad I could want!

My step dad became my legal guardian and my biological Dad gave consent for my surname to be changed by deed poll. This way my Mum didn't have to adopt me as well.