ADULT ADOPTION

There are many reasons for Adult Adoption, such as:

1. You may have been raised by a stepparent, and the stepparent wanted to adopt you, but your biological parent refused to consent. Once you are an adult, the consent of the biological parents is NOT required.

2. You may have been raised by a foster parent, and your foster parent wants to adopt you so that the legal relationship of parent and child is created.

3. You may have been adopted, and for whatever reason, the adoption didn’t work out and you want to restore the legal relationship of parent and child with your biological parents.

4. You may need to be adopted so that you can establish inheritance rights. If you were raised by a step or foster parent but were never legally adopted, you are not entitled to inherit anything from them when they die. Of course, the step or foster parent can include you in their will, but if for some reason that will fails, you are not legally entitled to inherit anything through the intestate succession laws.

Adult adoption is a little different than child adoption. For example,

1. Consent is not required of either biological parent.

2. The adult to be adopted must consent to the adoption.

3. The spouse of the adult to be adopted must consent.

4. The person seeking to adopt must have their spouse join as a petitioner or consent to the adopton.

5. As a general rule, a home study is not required.

Because of these differences, adult adoption is usually an uncontested matter and can be done for a flat fee. If you have questions about adult adoption, contact us today.