the Title kind of says it all.
I’m in the process of adopting my step daughter, but I feel the lawyer has been dragging their feet. It’s been a year since we started this process and I still haven’t heard anything from them since December 2007.
The biological father is and has been out of the picture so much so that the child doesn’t even know they exist. Literally.
So any ideas on how long this can take? Any examples from other states are welcome, but I really only need to know the process for Louisiana. If you can point me in the right direction that would be great.
Thanks.
One question and I don’t mean to be snarky when I ask it: what is the status of your payment to the lawyer? A lawyer I used to work for put paid-up accounts a bit higher on the priority list than ones who weren’t paid up. With only so many hours in a day, this could make a big difference.
That’s one thing to look at. Another is that I gave them a check for the cost for them to proceed back in March or April last year. After several months we called the lawyer and asked what the status was. They said they still needed to be paid. We informed them that they had and that the money came out of the bank account, to which they were in complete surprise. Some time after that was cleared up, I believe it was in November, we sat down and met with the lawyer, signed some papers, and she said she would get back with us. That’s the last I have heard of anything.
This chart was created for a different purpose, but I think you might find it interesting: http://printables.familyeducation.com/tv/printables/fe/pc/0,,33880-1624,00.pdf