Understanding Adult Adoption

When people hear the term “adoption,” they most often associate it with children. However, any person 18 yeas or older may be adopted for various reasons. The following information in this article is an overview of what adult adoption is and what it might look like.

When Does Adult Adoption in Minnesota Make Sense?

Adult adoption has been around for a long time. Yet, it remains an underutilized mechanism for achieving more familial permanence. This permeance can and has meant different things for different families and generations across the country. The one common thread among every adult adoption is the goal of formal recognition of the binding ties between adopter and adoptee.

This idea may seem unconventional, but when considering the history of the legal process of adoption, it is generally aligned with why adoption was created as a legal tool in the first place. The legal process of adoption was crafted as a means to secure the desired succession of property and inheritance.

Here at Shively Law Office, LLC, every adoption attorney in MN has extensive experience representing clients in adult adoptions. When it comes to adopting an adult, we most often work with an informal parent or parent-and-child relationship that was never legally formalized. Our cases like this include the adoption of an adult child by an established step-parent, a familial relative outside of the biological parent (such as an aunt or great-uncle), or a foster parent.

Adult Adoption Minnesota: Do Biological Parents Need Notice?

Biological parents are not entitled to notice in Minnesota.

An adult deemed capable of giving consent can consent to their own adoption by a petitioner without needing any legal clearance or consent from a biological parent or parents. This is significant as often, and especially in the cases of different family dynamics or foster parents wanting to adopt a child within the foster care system, the need for legal clearance in the form of parental rights termination or just obtaining biological parents’ consent can be an emotional, expensive and potentially insurmountable process.

Additionally, where some states require potential adult adoptees to give legal notice to their birth parents of the adoption’s event date and location, Minnesota does not. That barrier is gone when you choose adoption in the state of Minnesota.

Start Your Adult Adoption Process Today

Are you ready to take the next step in your adoption journey? Start by contacting an adoption attorney in MN. At Shively Law Office, LLC, we are confident in helping people when it comes to Minnesota adoptions, including families adopting an adult into their family.

Call us today! You can learn more about why so many trust our legal team and how we can help you too.