Sometimes it is not in a child’s best interest for his or her biological parent to have visitation rights or otherwise be involved in important decisions for the child. In such cases, it may be in the child’s best interest to have that parent’s rights terminated which means that parent is legally no longer a parent of the child and has no rights, such as visitation, nor any further legal responsibility, such as child support.

In North Carolina, before those rights can be terminated, certain grounds must be stated and proven. However, grounds alone will not necessarily be sufficient to terminate a parent’s rights. The Court will weigh the evidence and determine if it is in the best interest of the child for the parent’s rights to be terminated. Grounds for termination must be established for statutory time limits immediately preceding the filing of the termination action. This means that a delay in filing once grounds have been established may be fatal. For example, if a parent has had no contact with the child and has provided no support for the required time period but no action is filed and the parent then resumes contact or support then the grounds for termination may be lost.

If someone has been served with documents asking that their rights be terminated, McSpadden Law, P. C. can assist with that as well.

Call 704-868-2292 to schedule a consultation regarding your family law matter.