What if the other parent won't sign consent in Wyoming?

If the other parent won't sign consent in Wyoming, your adoption is not automatically over, but what happens next depends on the facts of your situation, especially the other parent's conduct toward the child. The District Court in your county decides, and an attorney or the District Court clerk can tell you how the court would view your specific circumstances.

How Wyoming looks at abandonment. Wyo. Stat. § 1-22-110 is the statute that addresses abandonment. Wyoming sets no fixed number of months. Abandonment depends on the parent's overall conduct. So there is no countdown to wait out. The question is the whole picture of how the other parent has treated the child. You may want to gather things like:

• Records or messages showing how often the parent has been in touch
• Dates of any visits or calls
• Anything showing whether the parent has been part of the child's daily life

Termination is not a separate case. In Wyoming, ending the other parent's rights is not a separate proceeding from the adoption. Your petition in District Court is where the matter is raised.

A refusal is different from silence. A parent who has disappeared and a parent who is involved but objects are different situations. If the other parent is actively involved and says no, the case may become contested. For that, we recommend talking with a Wyoming family law attorney about your particular facts. Wyoming law on how the court weighs a specific objection should be confirmed with an attorney or the District Court clerk.

Other requirements still apply.

• Residency: The adopting parent must have lived in Wyoming for 60 days immediately before filing (Wyo. Stat. § 1-22-103).
• The child's consent: Wyoming sets the child's consent age at 14 (Wyo. Stat. § 1-22-109). If your child is 14 or older, their own consent is part of the process, separate from the other parent's.
• Home study: It is waived for stepparent adoptions (Wyo. Stat. § 1-22-111(a)(ii)), which takes one step out of the way.

Timeline. Stepparent adoptions in Wyoming typically take about 3-6 months. A contested case can change that, so ask the clerk or an attorney what to expect if the other parent objects.

Your next steps.

• Write down the history of the other parent's contact with your child.
• Ask the District Court clerk in your county how the court handles a case where the other parent hasn't consented.
• If the parent is involved and objecting, speak with a Wyoming family law attorney.

How we help. StepParent Adoption 360 is a document preparation service, not a law firm. You answer questions online, and we prepare the complete court document package for your county. You then file it yourself, without an attorney. Court-ready documents arrive within 24-48 hours after you finish the questions, and we back them with a 100% court acceptance guarantee. The cost is $349 for the first child and $99 for each additional child. We have helped 191 Wyoming families, and more than 34,000 families nationally since 2001.