Virginia Name Changes and Step Parent Adoptions So, your child’s biological father is a deadbeat, and now you’ve found Mr. Wonderful (not Mr. Wonderful of the Shark Tank variety, to be clear). He is willing to adopt your child, and to have her assume his last name. Isn’t it amazing? But is it really that easy? In most cases, no! It’s actually fairly complicated -- if not downright impossible! The way the law sees it, the biological dad – deadbeat or no – has some rights here. A lot is … [Read more...]
Non Parent Rights in Virginia Custody
Everything changes when mom and dad can’t make it work. Things that used to work out and were generally accepted sometimes don’t continue to work, especially where nonparents are concerned. Specifically: grandparents. Here’s the typical scenario: mom and dad are happy together (married or unmarried, it’s irrelevant). Mom’s mom is super active in the kid’s lives, and everyone is happy. Maybe grandma even provides daycare. It’s not a problem. The kids love her, she loves the kids. Everybody is … [Read more...]
