Affidavit Of Voluntary Relinquishment Of Parental Rights - Texas District Court (Page 2 of 11) in pdf

(9)

a statement that the relinquishment is revocable, that the relinquishment is irrevocable, or

that the relinquishment is irrevocable for a stated period of time.

(10)

if the relinquishment is revocable, a statement in boldfaced type concerning the right of the

parent signing the affidavit to revoke the relinquishment only if the revocation is made before the

day after the date the affidavit is executed;

(11)

if the relinquishment is revocable, the name and address of a person to whom the

revocation is to be delivered; and

(12)

the designation of a prospective adoptive parent, the Department of Protective and

Regulatory Services, if the department has consented in writing to the designation, or a licensed

child-placing agency to serve as managing conservator of the child and the address of the person or

agency.

An affidavit of relinquishment of parental rights may contain:

(1)

a waiver of process in a suit to terminate the parent-child relationship filed under

this chapter or in a suit to terminate joined with a petition for adoption; and

(2)

a consent to the place of the child for adoption by the Department of Protective and

Regulatory Services or by a licensed child-placing agency.

A copy of the affidavit of relinquishment must be provided to the parent signing the same

at the time he signs the affidavit.

The code provides for designation of a period in which the affidavit of relinquishment is

irrevocable. The statute limits that period to 60 days from the date the affidavit is signed, unless

the affidavit designates the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services, or a licensed child-

placing agency as the managing conservator, then the affidavit is irrevocable. Note that the code in

§161.1035 provides that an affidavit can be revocable for the first 11 days after its execution, but

thereafter is irrevocable. Thus, there is a choice for the practitioner and the client. Most often the

affidavit is drafted with the 60 day period, but one could elect the alternate choice of allowing the

parent relinquishing their rights to revoke the affidavit within an eleven day period immediately

following the date it is signed, but thereafter, the affidavit would be irrevocable. The latter choice

might be preferable, if the client feels that it less likely that the parent would revoke the affidavit in

the 11 day window after it is signed, then say sixty (60) days after it was signed.

An affidavit of relinquishment signed naming a licensed child-placing agency as managing

conservator is irrevocable. A separate form is set out hereafter for mother (§1:235) and for father

(§1:237). If a parent who has signed an affidavit of relinquishment, if he or she desires to revoke

their affidavit, and they are able to do so pursuant to the terms of the affidavit, they must revoke

the affidavit pursuant to the terms of §161.103(g), Texas Family Code. A form for such affidavit

revoking an affidavit of relinquishment is set forth in §1:239 following.

Affidavit Of Voluntary Relinquishment Of Parental Rights - Texas District Court Page 2