I know this probably varies from state to state, but. . .
In general, if a couple is trying to adopt an adult (that is, over 18) do they need to get the consent of the birth mother? Assume that the biological father is either completely unknown or his whereabouts are unknown.
(I have a relative who floated this idea, and she and her husband said they thought they would need consent of the birth mother.)
Possibly 50 different answers - Adult Adoption Law in the United States | Healing and Restoring Families Dismembered by Adoption
Some states do seem to require consent from the birth parents, others don’t even mention them.
I would think so, because adoption terminates all rights and obligations of the birth parents. That doesn’t change just because the adopted person is an adult.
But if someone is legally an adult, what legally enforceable rights and obligations remain for either birth or adoptive parents? Or in other words, what is the point of adult adoption?
Well, for starters, someone can be biologically an adult but have been declared incapable; being their legal parent can make some bureaucracies and stuff such as medical insurance/treatment easier to navigate than being their legal guardian.
It also allows the parents to give the adoptee their lastname (something which has on occasion been used to keep a lastname going), and affects inheritance laws or even sales. If I’d bought my grandmother’s flat either from her of from her state, “change of title tax” would have been 0%; the stranger who bought it had to pay 10%. The capital gains tax my aunt and mother had to pay would also have been a lot lower if I’d been the buyer. Many other taxes and fees are similarly affected, much cheaper when the people involved are close relatives. Your best friend or the person of whom you are a guardian aren’t relatives, no matter how close; your children are, no matter how old.
That would obviously very much depend on jurisdiction. For example here in Germany there are two major advantages:
[ul]
[li]Near relatives e.g. children are very much privileged in the inheritance tax rate compared with distant relatives or nonrelatives. (it is the heirs who are taxed in Germany, not the estate). So it can make sense for a rich and childless person to adopt e.g. a nephew.[/li][li]You can legally acquire the prestigious last name of your adoptive parent, as in the case of Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt, né Hans-Robert Lichtenberg[/li][/ul]