Alabama Divorce & Family Law Attorney Blog : Birmingham Divorce Lawyer & Attorney : Eversole Law Firm : Serving Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile Alabama

Having handled all manner of adoptions in Birmingham, Montgomery and other Alabama cities and towns, my experience in this area is rather extensive. As an Alabama lawyer with a successful family law practice, I am always pleased to assist in the joyous occasion of a family adoption. Whether you are going to be new parents, or if you already have children and are adding to your brood, I can offer my own personal and professional insights into this specific area of the law.

As with every adoption, there will always be a large amount of paperwork. An attorney can help make all those forms -- whether it is for a domestic or international adoption -- much more manageable and understandable. One of the more common adoptions is the stepparent adoption.

Stepparent Adoptions
This kind of adoption usually involves one spouse adopting the child of the other spouse. Many times, a parent of a “blended family” must adopt a stepchild in order to provide insurance coverage under his or her employer’s or other medical insurance plans. With this kind of adoption, the expenses incurred during this process can provide tax advantages.

A stepparent adoption can also be brought about so as to provide a legal parent for a child whose biological parent is no longer a part of the child's life, such as if the biological parent has abandoned the child or died. In either case, from the child’s standpoint, a stepparent adoption sends a strong message that the young person will be loved and wanted. This is a lifelong commitment that demonstrates that the family is completely united, not to mention that the child’s needs and care will always be provided for.

If your pending adoption is domestic or international, employing a family law attorney can help you avoid the pitfalls that sometimes catch parents unaware. Occasionally, when a couple is just about to become the parents of an adopted child, a problem with the paperwork, the Court, or the biological mother can throw a monkey wrench into the works. Having an attorney on hand from the very start will mean that you will be in the best possible position to try and make things work out for the best.

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Prior to 1991, Alabama did not have what one could call a modern adoption code, but since then Birmingham families, as well as couples all across this state, have had an easier time when adopting a child. Thanks to a much revised adoption code developed nearly 20 years ago, the process is no longer fraught with questions and legal black holes.

Many couples have walked through my door, anxious about adopting a child. As a Birmingham family law attorney, I can assure them that the process is typically very safe and extremely transparent.  In fact, because the Alabama State Legislature consulted the local adoption community when crafting the new code back in 1991, Alabama’s adoption law actually became a model over the years as other states moved to revise their old laws. Being a family law attorney in Alabama allows me to help people all across our state with adoptions and child custody cases.

In regard to adoptions, the following explains why Alabama’s current adoption law works so well for couples:

1) It clearly defines how much time the birth parents have to change their minds -- specifically, five days following either the birth of the child in question or the signing of relinquishments. This simple stipulation protects the birth parents since it provides a clear window of five days in which they can withdraw from the adoption. Meanwhile, it protects the adoptive family once that five-day window has finally closed.

Furthermore, the birth parents are given the choice of when they want that five-day countdown to commence. Also, a birth parent can choose to sign their relinquishment papers even before the child is born, or anytime following the birth of the child. If the latter route is taken, they receive the same five-day right of withdrawal.

In cases where the birth father is unknown or cannot be located, he is given a thirty-day period following the child's birth to step forward and claim paternity. At the end of thirty days, the court considers that he has given consent to the adoption, and his rights are then terminated.

2) The law deals strictly with the passing of money between those parties involved in the adoption. Heavy penalties are levied against individuals, including birth parents, attorneys, agencies, and prospective adoptive parents, who do not follow the financial guidelines set by the code. All fees must be submitted to the court for approval. These fees must be reasonable and directly related to the specific expenses of the adoption in question.

Because Alabama's adoption code is so concise, it is rare that couples ever experience the adoption tragedies commonly heard of in other states.
 

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Amidst the worldwide outpouring of sorrow over yesterday’s untimely death of pop music legend  Michael Jackson, one big question that family law experts are asking is who will get custody over his three children. As a Birmingham divorce and family law attorney, I have encountered a variety of child custody cases throughout my career, but Mr. Jackson’s case is rather unique, not just to Alabama, but even to the quirky world of eccentric entertainment personalities.

With uncertainty relating to the children’s conception, questions of paternity, as well as the way in which the kids have been brought up, speculation is swirling as to whom the Jackson children will eventually wind up with. No doubt, this child custody case could have some surprising twists and turns.

There are several interested parties including Jackson’s mother, Katherine, and the children’s nanny, Grace Rwaramba, who has worked for Jackson for almost 20 years. Another large presence is the surrogate mother of the two older children. In addition, there is a second surrogate, mother to Jackson’s third child, who reportedly lives in Germany. According to news sources, Jackson’s estate is in the red by about $400 million dollars, however the entertainer’s notoriety will likely make the Jackson children’s custody a hotly contested issue.

Katherine Jackson has expressed a very strong desire to adopt her three grandchildren, according to a long-time family friend. However, Jackson himself reportedly said that he wanted the kids’ nanny to have custody should anything ever happen to him. Rwaramba, 42, had assumed an increasingly central role in lives of Jackson and his children, according to news stories. Following his acquittal on molestation charges in 2005, Jackson, Rwaramba and the children moved to Bahrain and then later to Ireland.

Surrogate mother, Debbie Rowe, who was a nurse in the office of Jackson's dermatologist, is the birth mother of two of Jackson’s kids, 12-year-old Prince Michael Jr. and 11-year-old Paris Katherine. Rowe was artificially inseminated prior to both pregnancies, but has never revealed if Jackson was the father of either child. She and Jackson were married briefly after Prince's conception, but divorced six months after Paris' birth.

Apparently, Rowe gave Jackson custody of the children, but sued him in 2006 for breach of contract in an attempt to regain custody. The pair settled out of court for undisclosed terms and Jackson retained custody. However, it is a good bet that with the Jackson’s recent death, Rowe will again try to gain custody of her children.

To add to the drama, Jackson’s third child was born to another surrogate whose identity has not been released. This woman, who gave birth to Prince Michael II in 2001, could add another component to the case. Prince Michael II,  better known to the public as Blanket, was infamously dangled by the pop star from the window of a Berlin hotel not long after his birth.

Who Will Get Custody of Michael Jackson's Kids?, ABCNews.com, June 26, 2009

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