Parenting goes hand in hand with a variety of obligations and responsibilities that aren’t necessarily agreeable for everyone’s lifestyle. There are several reasons why a person might choose to terminate those responsibilities. Here’s why you should hire a Termination of Parental Rights Lawyer if you’re considering this option.
If you want to discontinue yours or your partner’s parental obligations, you may have already learned it is not a cut and dry process. There are two types of rights that you can opt to terminate, parental rights and legal rights. For the most part, a child’s biological parents are automatically given both.
Legal rights are fairly broad and include the ability to be around your children, decide who else can have access to them, and make any other decisions regarding them.
Parental rights are having the legal right to make decisions regarding your child’s health and general welfare, their physical custody, visitation with them, and providing financial support for them. Additional indirect legal responsibilities of parenting include providing shelter, food, education, and healthcare.
How Can a Termination of Parental Rights Lawyer Help?
Each state is different but, in Florida, terminating your parental rights eliminates your legal rights and obligations related to the child. Hiring an attorney for termination of parental rights is beneficial and may even make it more affordable. It’s not always easy to end a relationship, especially a parent-child one. Due to the finality of the termination, the following may get challenging and messy:
- Cutting off the child’s rights to any inheritance, custody, visitation, and communication
- Being removed from the child’s birth certificate
- Ending child support
A Termination of Parental Rights Lawyer can guide you through the entire termination process and the challenges that may arise.
3 Common Reasons to Terminate Parental Rights
There are a number of reasons why people choose to terminate parental rights, three of which we’ve outlined below.
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Abandonment
A parent is considered to have abandoned their child if they leave him or her in a location for an extended period of time and is unreachable after 60 days have passed. This indicates that they have abandoned their parental role and are not trying to form a bond with their child, resulting in the termination of their parental rights.
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Incarceration
This doesn’t mean that if you’ve been incarcerated, your parental rights are terminated. Rather, if a parent has been in prison for a lengthy period of time, he or she may have their legal rights terminated while their parental rights are taken into consideration per the parent’s crime.
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Abuse
Abuse is the third most common reason to terminate parental rights and is often, and easily, convoluted. This is often the most challenging termination due to its subjective nature.
Abuse is determined based on having a child’s well-being and health threatened, and it is measured on the severity of the physical, emotional, or mental abuse. Once the court has been petitioned, including the reasons why the parent’s rights should be terminated, and the petition has been reviewed, the court will schedule a hearing.
Hiring a Termination of Parental Rights Lawyer
The termination of parental rights can come with many challenges, both mental and emotional. The court heavily considers the severity and finality of what this termination means and tries to make the best decision for all parties involved, especially the child.
You don’t have to climb this mountain alone. Hiring a Termination of Parental Rights Lawyer can make a significant difference in the final outcome of your case. If you’re contemplating terminating yours or another parent’s rights, contact us today to learn how our team at Apfelbaum Law will tenaciously work by your side to fight for you.
