Do I Need a Lawyer To Adopt A Child
Adoption is a wonderful way to grow your family, however, it can require lots of paperwork and can involve lots of potential legal complications and hurdles. It is also likely to involve a heavy investment, both emotionally and financially from you as potential parents. For this reason, it is important to protect your investment and your future child by ensuring that everything goes smoothly and that the adoption is successful. Failing to involve a lawyer could result in an adoption agreement that is not legally enforceable, or in other serious issues being overlooked, such as proper citizenship provisions for an international adoption. There are many legal pieces to an adoption that you may not even be aware of, so it is infinitely helpful to have an attorney who is able to ensure that all the legal mechanisms of the adoption are taken care of while you get ready for your child to arrive.
How a Lawyer Can Help with Your Adoption
- Advice and preparation for adoption interviews and home visits. Adoption is a complex and competitive process, and many couples go into it without a real idea of what to expect or how impactful even small decisions and comments throughout the process can be. Your lawyer can help you to prepare for each step of the adoption process and can help you understand what to expect as well as what the adoption agencies are expecting.
- Clarify your legal rights and obligations. A lawyer can help you understand your rights and obligations at each stage of the process. This ensures that you are not taken advantage of by agencies, as well as that you do not miss any required actions or paperwork that could further delay or even derail the process.
- Manage all the paperwork. The amount of paperwork and documentation involved in an adoption is truly astounding. If you choose to handle it on your own you may miss key pieces or make simple errors that can cause costly and frustrating delays to remedy. Most couples still end up having to hire a lawyer to review and finalize their paperwork or to remedy errors that they made when doing it on their own. Having a lawyer on your side to manage the process from the beginning can make a world of difference when it comes to streamlining the process.
- For adoption hearings. Depending on the kind of adoption that you are attempting, you may be required to attend hearings on the adoption in court. For these hearings, it is generally critical to have experienced representation on your side. This can be especially true if you are attempting a somewhat complicated adoption, such as adopting a relative or any adoption that may be contested.
Reach out to Greater Orlando Family Law Today
If you are considering adoption, it’s important to have an experienced legal advocate to help support you on this journey, and to make sure that it unfolds as seamlessly and efficiently as possible. You’ve waited long enough for this child. Let us help you cross the finish line. Contact the Orlando family lawyers at Greater Orlando Family Law and schedule a consultation today.
Source:
leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0063/0063ContentsIndex.html
