Being a parent is one of the most precious gifts for many New Jersey residents. However, some people aren’t interested in parenting. Your former partner might be one of them.
What it means to surrender parental rights
When a parent chooses to surrender their parental rights, it means they are agreeing to end their relationship with their child. This includes all the legal aspects of parenthood such as paying child support, having child custody or visitation and making legal decisions based on the child’s best interests.
Although some parents lose their parental rights involuntarily due to various reasons such as a history of abuse or neglect, others make the choice to give up those rights.
Reasons parents voluntarily surrender their parental rights
A parent might voluntarily surrender their parental rights for a variety of reasons. In some cases, they might have a negative history as a parent that indicates that the family court is on the verge of terminating their rights. Voluntary surrender might be an option in this situation.
Sometimes, a parent is mostly absent from the child’s life and wishes to avoid paying child support. Or there might be another person in the picture who wishes to adopt the child, which could only be done if the parent terminates their parental rights. This is a common situation when the primary parent ends up getting married to someone new and their spouse wishes to adopt their new stepchild.
If a person terminates their parental rights, it also means that any child support order is also ended for the future. Only back child support payments could be made to the parent still in the child’s life.
Giving up parental rights is never an easy decision. If your former partner is considering surrendering their rights, it’s best if you thoroughly discuss it first.