Florida Family Adoptions Made Simple

Florida adoptions are governed by Florida Statute 63. Private adoptions and adoptions of someone who is not a close family relative require a home study, background check, or the MAPP course (Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting). However, Florida family adoptions have no such requirements, making the process faster and more affordable. While adoptive parents can certainly retain counsel to oversee the family adoption process, there may be no need. If all parties are in agreement, there is usually no need to hire an attorney.

Stepparent Adoption

In Florida a stepparent adoption is considered a family adoption. The petition for stepparent adoption and most of the required forms are Florida Supreme Court approved forms and can be downloaded for free from the Supreme Court's website. Stepparent adoptions are almost always consensual. Usually one of the child's biological parents has primary or sole custody of the child, and the other parent is not actively participating in the child's life. The biological parent's role is to simply sign the consent form, which must be notarized, and witnessed by two people.

If the biological parent pays child support, he or she will be relieved of that obligation once the adoption is final. This, in itself, can be a motivation for the biological parent to sign the consent form, particularly since he or she has been paying child support for a child he rarely sees. The consent form not only consents to the adoption, but also terminates the biological parent's rights.

Sometimes a judge may sign the order of adoption even though the biological parent has not consented. For example, if the biological parent is in prison, has had no contact with the child for a number of years, and stubbornly refuses to sign the consent form, a judge may grant the adoption without that consent.

Relative Adoptions - Within three steps of consanguinity

Florida also recognizes as family adoption, adoptions by close family relatives. For adoption purposes, a close family relative is defined as “within three steps of consanguinity”. Consanguinity means blood relation. Following is a handy chart to help make it easier to see who is a close family relative.

PERSON

1. PARENTS

2. GRANDPARENTS

3. GREAT GRANDPARENTS

1. CHILDREN	2. SIBLINGS
2. GRAND CHILDREN	3. NIECES/NEPHEWS and AUNTS/ UNCLES

3. GREAT GRAND CHILDREN

There are no petition forms for any type of family adoption except for stepparent adoptions on the Florida Supreme Court's site. However, most of the required forms are identical except for the petition forms. A couple Florida counties have local forms for grandparent adoptions. The main differences in the process are in stepparent adoption, there is only one biological parent that needs to consent. In other family adoptions, both parents need to consent.

Whereabouts Unknown:

Occasionally that the whereabouts of a biological parent are unknown. In that case, a diligent search must be conducted, and an Affidavit of Diligent Search must be filed along with the other required documents. If the parent is not located during the search, then he or she can be served legal notice through constructive service. Constructive service is notice by publication. A Notice of Action form is filed with the clerk of court after all efforts to locate the parent have been exhausted.

Form requirement oddities

A search or the putative father registry is required in all Florida family adoptions. The intent of the putative father registry is to preserve the paternity rights of an unwed father, if, for example, he fathered a child and then he and the mother parted company. The original intent was that the father could register that he was the likely father of a child and then the child could not be adopted without his consent and further proceedings. As it is, since all adoptions require the search, even when the identity of the father is known, a search must be conducted.

Another form that may seem odd to some filers, is the Indian Child Affidavit. This affidavit states that the child is not an (American) Indian child. It is a federal form that is required in all Florida adoptions.

We can help.

Although people can certainly hire an attorney to oversee the adoption proceedings, there may be no need. If all parties are in agreement, and there is no dispute, a Florida legal document preparer can prepare the documents for a stepparent adoption or a relative adoption. If you need help with adoption forms, contact us at 800-515-0496, or visit us online at ADOPTION.

Why Choose an FALDP member as your legal document preparer:

Why Choose an FALDP member as your legal document preparer:.

A legal document preparer is never a substitute for an attorney. However, if all a consumer needs is properly prepared documents, a legal document preparer may be just the right choice. Legal document preparers may not provide legal advice or representation, but if no advice or representation is needed, consider the services of a legal document preparer. Members of the Florida Association of Legal Document Preparers must meet certain standards in order to join this association. Among these requirements are: 

• Completing our Online Courses - INTRO & a content specific course, or;
• Two years experience preparing Florida legal documents, or;
• Two year paralegal course, or;
• A combination of related professional experience and education, and
• Above average proficiency in spoken and written English;
• Acknowledges and agrees to follow the rules set forth by the Florida Bar Association and the Florida Supreme Court regarding UPL;
• Agrees to refrain from offering legal advice, and to refrain from representing themselves as legal experts.
• Agrees to abide by the FALDP Pledge.

Six Ways our Members Help Consumers

1. Providing Legal Information. A document preparer can assist consumers by locating laws, cases, and court rules. Although, the interpretation of this legal information is considered legal advice, locating them and providing them to consumers is perfectly fine. For example, on many of the instruction sheets for Florida Family Law Supreme Court approved forms, a Florida Statute is referenced, but the statute itself does not appear. Many Florida Statutes are straight forward and do not require legal interpretation. Providing the statute itself to the consumer may be all that is needed for the consumer to make an informed decision.

2. Explaining Procedure. Many consumers are stymied by not knowing the steps in their case. A document preparer can explain procedure so that the consumer knows what to do next, or what to expect next. And the consumer can also get a better idea of time frames and deadlines once he has a basic understanding of legal and court procedure.

3. Preparing Documents. Document preparers help consumers by preparing complete and proper documents to file in their case. Sometimes a form's instructions includes a list of which additional forms must be filed at the same time. However, sometimes the list is incomplete or more forms that must be filed at the same time are listed on yet another form's instructions. While a document preparer may not select forms for a consumer to file, showing the consumer which forms are required according to the court's written instructions helps the consumer follow the court's rules and moves their case along.

4. Formatting Documents. While many consumers may be able to fill out forms themselves, consumers may not be aware of specific formatting requirements, such as font, font size, margins, etc. By providing the court with properly formatted documents the consumer

4. Active Listening. Legal document preparers may not offer legal advice, but there are no rules to say a document preparer should not actively listen to their customers. Asking questions that help the customer arrive at their own decisions or acting as a sounding board may be the most valuable aspects of hiring a legal document preparer.

5. Flat Fee Pricing. Most document preparers offer flat fee pricing for various form sets. The flat fee pricing allows consumers to know in advance how much to expect to spend. And, rolled into the flat fee pricing plan, most document preparers also include corrections and minor revisions at no additional charge.

6. Affordability. Since consumers are only paying document preparers for limited nonlawyer services, the fees document preparers charge are much lower than an attorney might charge for similar document preparation services. By definition, document preparers do not provide legal advice, and if the consumer has no need for legal advice then there is no reason to pay for it.

So, for consumers who do not require legal advice or representation, a legal document preparer may be their best option.

CALL TODAY 800-515-496 OR VISIT WWW.FALDP.ORG