How can a father relinquish his parental rights to a child that someone else signed the birth certificate for in VA?

Answer 1

This can become complicated, with long term problems if not action is taken.

First, it would require the establishment of paternity, which would then result in the creation of an obligation to support. However, giving up of the parental rights would not necessarily stop that support obligation.

Not doing anything does not exempt the potential biological parent from the eventual obligation. Depending on the state of residence at the time application for support is made, the mother can wait until the child is 23 years old to name the bio dad and apply for up to 18 years of retroactive child support.

Though the mother and child presently lives in Virginia, she could one day relocated to another state, such as Ohio, when she is allowed to do this.

For the biological father, this clearly places him between the proverbial rock and a hard place. If he does anything, he will be obligated to support the child, but if he does nothing, years down the road, he could be hit with tens of thousands of dollars in retroactive support.

This is one of the particular drawbacks of having an affair with a married woman.

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