Adult Adoption in Florida

An adult adoption is a court proceeding that creates a legal parent-child relationship between two adults. The adoptee must be 18 or older. The judgment gives the adoptee the full legal status of a child of the adoptive parent, including inheritance rights, next-of-kin standing, and the right to share a last name.

Florida’s adult adoption process is simpler than adopting a minor. No home study, background check, or waiting period is required, and the biological parents cannot block the adoption. Chapter 63 of the Florida Statutes governs the process.

Why Do People Pursue an Adult Adoption?

Adult adoption in Florida most often formalizes a parent-child relationship that already exists. The typical petitioner is a stepparent who raised a stepchild but never completed a stepparent adoption while the child was a minor. Once the child turns 18, an adult adoption makes the relationship legally permanent without requiring the absent biological parent’s consent.

A stepparent adoption of a minor requires the consent of the biological parent whose rights would end, or legal grounds to waive that consent, such as abandonment. When that parent refuses to sign but has not clearly abandoned the child, many families wait: at 18, the consent requirement falls away and the adoption can proceed over the parent’s objection.

Florida law recognizes several forms of adoption, and adult adoption is the only one that never requires a biological parent’s consent. Beyond the stepparent case, the usual reasons for an adult adoption are:

• Inheritance rights. The adoptee becomes a legal heir with the same standing as a biological child, which can simplify estate planning and avoid will contests.
• Next-of-kin status. The adoptive parent gains authority for hospital visitation and medical decision-making in emergencies.
• Foster and kinship recognition. A foster parent or kinship caregiver who raised the adoptee can formalize the relationship they already have. An adult who aged out of foster care can be adopted at any age; there is no deadline after 18.
• Care for a disabled adult. A caregiver who raised a disabled adult can adopt and become that person’s legal parent and permanent next of kin.
• Name change. The adoptee can take the adoptive parent’s last name as part of the proceeding.
• Severing a harmful relationship. The adoption terminates the legal relationship with an absent or harmful biological parent.

What Are the Requirements for Adult Adoption in Florida?

Florida law imposes few restrictions on adult adoption. Any adult can adopt another adult other than their own spouse, regardless of age, and there is no required age difference between the petitioner and the adoptee. The petitioner can be single or married, and married couples may petition jointly. LGBTQ+ couples and stepparents can adopt through this process.

Up to three written consents are required. The adoptee must consent in writing, and if the adoptee is married, the adoptee’s spouse must consent as well. Those two consents, plus notice to the adoptee’s existing parents, are what section 63.062(8) requires before a court can grant an adult adoption. If the petitioner is married, the petitioner’s spouse must join the petition or consent to it; that requirement comes from the statute on who may adopt. A judge can excuse either spouse’s consent for good cause.

The adoptee’s consent must be their own. The statute requires a written consent signed by the adult, so an adult who lacks the mental capacity to understand and sign it cannot be adopted through this process. For those families, a guardianship provides the legal decision-making authority that adoption cannot.

The biological parents do not need to consent. They must be notified of the hearing, but they cannot prevent the adoption. Florida appellate courts have applied this rule since at least 1969: the existing parents are entitled to notice of the hearing and nothing more.

Florida does not require residency. Neither the petitioner nor the adoptee needs to have lived in Florida for any minimum period. The petition is filed in the circuit court in the county where the petitioner or the adoptee lives, or where the adoption attorney’s office is located. That venue rule lets a petitioner anywhere in Florida complete the adoption through an attorney based elsewhere.

How Does the Adult Adoption Process Work?

Adult adoption in Florida follows five steps, and the entire process typically takes two to three months from filing to final hearing.

• File the petition. The petitioner files a petition for adult adoption in the circuit court, along with the adoptee’s written consent and any required spousal consents. Florida law requires the petition to state the adoptee’s date and place of birth and the name the adoptee will take, the petitioner’s name, age, and residence, and the reason the petitioner wishes to adopt.
• Pay the filing fee. The county clerk charges $400 to $450 to open the adoption case, depending on the county.
• Schedule the hearing. The clerk assigns the case to a judge. The attorney coordinates with the judge’s office to schedule a final hearing date.
• Serve notice on biological parents. Florida law requires that the adoptee’s existing legal parents receive formal notice of the hearing. Notice must be delivered by a sheriff’s deputy or private process server. If the biological parents cannot be located, the court may allow constructive service by publishing a notice in a court-approved newspaper.
• Attend the final hearing. Most judges conduct the hearing virtually. The hearing typically lasts five to ten minutes. The judge confirms that both parties understand the legal consequences of the adoption and that all procedural requirements have been met. Some judges ask the parties to bring photo identification, Social Security cards, and the petitioners’ marriage license. The judge then enters a Final Judgment of Adult Adoption.

In our experience, serving notice is the step that most often extends the timeline. When a biological parent has moved without a forwarding address, the diligent search and newspaper publication can add four to six weeks to an otherwise routine case.

After the final judgment is entered, the attorney submits paperwork to the Florida Bureau of Vital Statistics to obtain an amended birth certificate listing the petitioner as the parent. If the adoptee’s name was changed as part of the adoption, the new birth certificate reflects the name change. The original birth certificate is sealed.

Can You Do an Adult Adoption in Florida Without a Lawyer?

Florida law does not require an attorney for an adult adoption, and filing without one saves the legal fee. The court system supplies almost no forms for adult adoption, and the judge cannot enter a judgment until every consent and notice requirement in chapter 63 has been met exactly.

The Florida Supreme Court has approved one standard petition form for adult adoption: Family Law Form 12.981(c)(1), which covers only a stepparent adopting an adult stepchild. Every other adult adoption has no approved form, and the petition must be drafted from scratch. Some circuits publish case checklists, and child-advocacy groups distribute free blank petition packets aimed at adults who aged out of foster care.

For the adult adoptions that the form does not cover, we publish a verified petition drafted to the chapter 63 pleading requirements and a matching consent for the adult being adopted.

The families who come to us after starting the process on their own usually stall at the notice step. A petitioner obtains the adoptee’s consent, files the petition, and then learns at the hearing that the biological parents were never formally served, which sends the case back for service before a judgment can be entered.

What Are the Legal Effects of an Adult Adoption?

An adult adoption in Florida has the same legal force as adopting a minor. Florida law treats an adopted person the same whether the adoption happened at age 5 or age 50. Section 63.172 gives the adoptee the same relationship to the adoptive parent, and to the parent’s relatives, that a child born to that parent would have. The Florida Probate Code carries the same rule into inheritance. The adoptee is a descendant of the adopting parent and natural kindred of the entire adoptive family.

The adoption terminates the legal relationship between the adoptee and their biological parents, except a biological parent who joins the petition or is married to the petitioner; that parent keeps full parental status. In the typical stepparent scenario, the adoptee ends up with two legal parents after the judgment: the biological parent and the adopting stepparent. For everyone else in the former family tree, the adoptee becomes a legal stranger for most purposes.

Florida courts have upheld these effects in trust disputes. In Dennis v. Kline, the Fourth District Court of Appeal held that no statute bars an adult adoptee from inheriting under a trust. The court reversed a summary judgment that had excluded the adult adoptee, holding that Florida treats adopted persons equally with biological children regardless of the age at adoption. It sent the case back because whether the adoption defeated the settlor’s intent was a question that had to be tried.

How Much Does It Cost to Adopt an Adult in Florida?

An adult adoption in Florida typically costs $3,500 to $4,500, charged as a flat fee. The fee generally covers the attorney’s work, court filing costs, and the birth certificate amendment. The process takes approximately two to three months from filing to final hearing.

There is no adoption tax credit for a typical adult adoption. The federal credit reaches only an adoptee under 18 or one physically or mentally incapable of self-care, so adopting a disabled adult may qualify; adopting a spouse’s child never does.

What Are the Disadvantages of Adult Adoption?

The main disadvantages of an adult adoption are inheritance disputes in blended families, the loss of legal ties to the biological family, and permanence:

• Inheritance complications in blended families. The adoptee becomes a legal heir with the same rights as a biological child. In a blended family, that can create disputes over the estate if the adoptive parent’s will or trust does not account for the new legal relationship. Siblings and other relatives who see their expected inheritance shrink may treat the adoption as a threat.
• Loss of biological family rights. The adoption severs the adoptee’s legal ties to their biological family, including the right to inherit from biological relatives. The stepparent case is different. The adoptee keeps every inheritance tie to the biological parent married to the stepparent and to that parent’s family. If a parent has died and a stepparent or close relative (a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or sibling) later adopts, the adoptee still inherits from and through the deceased parent.
• Permanence. The adoption is effectively irreversible. Florida law bars challenges to an adoption judgment after one year, and courts apply that deadline strictly.

Can an Adult Adoption Be Challenged or Reversed?

Section 63.182 bars any attack on an adoption judgment, on any ground, once a year has passed from entry of the judgment terminating parental rights. An adult adoption produces no separate judgment terminating parental rights. No Florida appellate court has decided how the one-year period runs for an adult adoption.

The section is a statute of repose, so once the year runs it extinguishes the claim itself no matter why the challenger waited. Florida appellate courts have refused to extend it even when the challenger alleges fraud. A judgment entered without notice to someone entitled to it is void, which is the ground Goodman, the case discussed below, used inside the year.

The statute also limits who can bring a challenge. A challenger must show a direct, financial, and immediate interest in the judgment. Disapproval of the adoption, or a remote chance of inheriting someday, is not enough to give a relative standing.

A 2013 Florida decision shows what it takes to unwind one. In 2011, polo executive John Goodman adopted his 42-year-old girlfriend while facing a wrongful death lawsuit, instantly making her a one-third beneficiary of the trust he and his former wife had established for his two minor children. No Florida statute bars an adult adoptee from taking under a trust, but an adoption concealed from the people whose shares it reduces can be set aside as a fraud on the court.

In 2013, the Third District Court of Appeal voided the adoption in Goodman v. Goodman. Goodman told his two minor children and their mother nothing until January 2012, after the time to appeal had run, even though the adoption cut the children’s trust share from one-half to one-third. The court held that the children’s direct financial stake entitled them to notice of the adoption, and it called the concealment a fraud on the court.

Under Dennis v. Kline, an adult adoption can change who inherits under a trust unless the settlor’s intent, tried as a question of fact, shows otherwise. Under the Goodman decision, an adoption concealed from the people it affects financially will be unwound.