Surrendering Parental Rights and Child Support, Frequently Asked Questions

In step-parent adoptions the non-custodial biological parent of the child must surrender their rights or their rights must be terminated for the adoption to be successful. How does this affect the child support of the surrendering parent? It will stop current support and only unpaid child support arreages would still be owed. Can the surrendering parent make their consent to surrender contingent upon their child support arearages being forgiven? No, this is contrary to Tennessee law and is prohibited. Can a surrendering parent make their consent to surrender contingent on still being able to see the children? Again the answer is no, any such agreement would be unenforceable. Finally, If a parent has no contact with the children and gets no benefit from to the parent/child relationship, can they surrender their rights so as to not have to pay child support? No, the only way is through an adoption or termination initated by the other parent or a guardian.