Parental rights of step children

[sam82]

I am enquiring on behalf of a friend, i have advised her to seek legal advice and i assume she will, but in the meantime, i would be grateful for some AB users advice.

My friend had a boy 5 years ago, she broke up with her childs dad before he was born, he briefly stayed in touch when he was born, but not for long, at the time she had to get the CSA on to him for his child support, which the CSA arrested his wages and now automatically pays �60 a month through them.

she has been with another man for 4 years now and recently had a new baby in april with her current partner and is now married to this man. they are very much in love and her first child only knows this man as dad and has been accepted as his mum & dads grandson also. Her sons biological father wont sign his rights over so her current partner can adopt him. i can understand why the biological father would maybe not want to do this. but should anything happen to my friend what rights does her current partner have over her first child.

[Chapel]

Rightly or wrongly, the natural father has no rights unless they married - you don't mention if this is the case. He could go to court to have his rights set in place, which he would have every right to do at any time. But it may be that he doesn't want contact.

In any event, if anything happens to your friend, a court case would be necessary to decide the child's future 

[tricia66]

It might also be worth getting your friend to write a will, if she hasn't already, stating that she wants her current partner to be her children's legal guardian.