Adopting an 18 Year Old

[callen]

My question involves adoption law for the State of: Ohio. I am a year away from being married and her youngest daughter and I have formed a very close father-daughter relationship. She has wanted me to adopt her for a while and I have wanted to since I met her mom. The daughter was 15 at the time. She has had no contact with her bio dad, even when he lived right down the road from her. He has chosen to not be a part of her life. On her birth cert, there is no name for a father. When her mom called the County adoption, Warren Co., she was told that I could have just signed the cert when she was 17, but now we will have to get a lawer. She turned 18 in January. That's where I get confused. When she's 17, I can claim her, but now that she has the right to make her own choice, I have to get a lawer and go to court? Any advice as to what my first step would be, will help.

[LawResearcherMissy]

When her mom called the County adoption, Warren Co., she was told that I could have just signed the cert when she was 17, but now we will have to get a lawer.

The Warren County people gave your soon-to-be wife bad information. You cannot just up and sign the birth certificate to "claim" a child not biologically yours.

That's fraud. I'm glad you didn't do that.

What you need to do is obtain the relevant forms from your county Probate Court. Butler County is kind enough to provide an example of their forms here.