Adopting someone is always a complex process because it considers a lot of factors. Everything is checked in the procedure, starting from your ability to adopt someone to the person’s best interest. After the process, you may get the right to adopt the person.
To pass through the whole process, the person who can help you is an adoption attorney or adoption lawyer.
Who is an Adoption Lawyer?
Attorneys and lawyers have a small difference. Lawyers can’t practice directly in court, but attorneys can.
An adoption attorney is a person who is licensed to handle adoption matters. Besides practicing adoption issues, they may also practice family law and trust law, as these fields are almost similar.
They must have a strong knowledge of federal adoption law, international adoption law, trust law, and privacy law.
I guess now you have an idea about an adoption attorney or lawyer.
What do Adoptions Lawyers Do?
In a word, the task of adoption lawyers is to work with adoption cases. But this is a wide field, and you may not have a clear idea about their work from this sentence. So, let’s learn a bit about the main duties of an adoption attorney.
- Finding a private adoption or adoption agency is one of their main tasks. They look for agencies or people who want to adopt someone.
- Also, they do all the paperwork needed for the whole procedure for their clients.
- They provide legal support to their clients.
- Adoption contracts have several obligations and rules. They help their clients to understand the rules and meet the criteria.
- They help their clients to negotiate the terms and conditions of the adoption.
- If any dispute arises in the process, adoption lawyers help their clients to handle the dispute and settle for the best interest of both parties.
- In most cases, the adoption process requires both parties to appear in court for some reason. The attorney prepares the clients to appear in court whenever it is needed.
- Maintaining communication between two parties is another primary task of an adoption attorney.
- Overall, they do anything legal to make an adoption process successful for the best interest of their clients.
- Calculating adoption costs is another task of the adoption attorneys. They calculate all the costs associated with your case, from the agency to the court fee.
How to Find the Best Adoption Attorney?
The process of finding the best attorney or lawyer is not that complex. All you have to do is to go through a small procedure. You can go to someone directly, but evaluating the available options may help you to get a better solution.
You can follow the process below to find the best adoption attorney.
Step 1- Look for Recommendations
Recommendations will help you to find the people around you who handles such cases. If someone from your friends, family, or neighbors has adopted someone, talk to them directly for a recommendation.
Also, you can have recommendations from search engines. Use search keywords like ‘adoption attorney near me,’ and you’ll find a lot of suggestions.
The local bar community can help you too.
Make a list of the recommended attorneys or law firms.
Step 2- Evaluating Online
Nowadays, most attorneys or law firms have websites. You just need to find out the websites of the ones on your list. If you don’t get websites, their social media pages will help you too.
From these sources, try to have an idea about the type of cases they work with, recent cases similar to yours, their success rate, reviews and ratings, etc. Try to visit some websites dedicated to business reviews to understand better what clients are thinking about them.
Based on these information, find out the top 4-5 firms or attorneys from your list.
Step 3- Communicating Directly
In the next step, you need to communicate the top picks directly. For this, make a call and ask for a free consultation. Most firms or lawyers offer such an opportunity nowadays. So, there is a huge chance that you’ll get the opportunity too.
In the consultation session, talk about your situation and what you want. Also, ask them about their experience, success rate in such cases, fee structure, etc. Don’t be afraid to ask such things. I’ll discuss the common questions to ask in this step a bit later.
Focus on their communication skills. This is a must-have for lawyers.
Step 4- Selecting One
After communicating the top picks from your list, you’ll know whom to choose. Don’t make fees the main priority.
Questions to Ask an Adoption Lawyer
Can I adopt someone?
To become able to adopt someone, you need to fulfill some requirements set by the law. Lawyers have enough idea about that. So, ask them whether you have the ability to adopt someone or not. They’ll then discuss the requirements and match your situation.
What type of adoption cases you’ve handled? What’s your success rate?
Adoption can be of many types. So, you must ask them about the specific types of adoption cases they’ve worked on. Talk about their success rate.
What’s your opinion about my situation?
Discuss their opinion in your situation. This will help you to understand their view and approach toward the case. Ensure that the person you pick has a positive approach towards it.
How can you help me?
This question is crucial because it lets you know the limitations of working with the person. You should pick them if they agree to help you in every step of the adoption process. Don’t pick someone who’ll help you with only several selective stages of the process.
Tell me about the complexities that may arise.
Any complexity may arise anytime in the process. Attorneys can sense the probable complexities or issues in the case as they’ve experience in this field. So, ask them about the issues that can arise in the process. This will help you to stay prepared to face the issue.
What’s your fee structure? How much is your fee?
Talking about the fee is a must when you’re discussing an attorney about your case. Several fee structures are available. You should have a clear idea about their fee before you hire an agency or an attorney. So, talk to them about their total fee and how to pay them.
Is It Mandatory to Hire an Attorney for Adoption?
According to the law, you don’t need to have an attorney with you in the adoption process. US law allows you to handle everything on your own, leaving the need for an attorney. Hiring an attorney won’t be necessary if you have the ability or experience with legal processes and issues. You can handle things in each step of the process.
However, if you think you need help with the process and paperwork, having an attorney is good. Also, hiring an attorney in some complex situations allows you to handle the situation smoothly and fix the issues quickly.
When do I Need to Hire an Adoption Attorney?
Though the law allows you to handle the adoption process without an attorney, you can’t avoid the necessity of having someone experienced with you in some situations. The possible situations are-
- You don’t have any idea or experience with the law and legal terms, and you don’t have enough time to understand them throughout the process
- You’re worried about the deadlines and paperwork regarding the process
- You don’t understand which law applies to you
- You can’t measure your ability to adopt based on the legal parameters
- The other party (mostly the adoption agency) is asking you to sign contracts or documents that you’re confused about
- You’re being discriminated because of your race, color, or any other characteristic
Besides these situations, any situation can occur when you don’t understand what to do. In such cases, go to an attorney and seek help.
It is not mandatory that you need to hire someone full-time. You can pay for only consultation sessions when you get stuck. However, having someone with you for the whole process will obviously make things smoother.
How Much is the Cost of an Adoption Lawyer?
The typical cost of an adoption lawyer or attorney can’t be measured easily. As compensation is not associated with such cases, the percentage practice doesn’t work here. In this type of case, you have to pay hourly, monthly, or a fixed amount.
If the lawyer asks for a fixed fee, it can be anywhere between $1,000 and $3,000. Some may ask for more than this. It depends on the experience and several other factors. However, if any complex issue arises in the middle of the case, you may have to pay more than the primarily negotiated amount.
The monthly fee is a bit rare in such cases as adoptions are settled as soon as possible. Instead, they charge hourly. In such cases, you may have to pay around $200-$300 per hour invested in your case. The attorney you hire keeps track of the time spent on your case. You need to make payment for it, maybe daily.
The amount of hourly fee depends on the attorney’s experience, the case’s complexity, and all other factors associated with the case.
Other Costs of Adoption
The cost of the lawyer is not the only cost of adoption. You need to handle several other costs. For example- you need to pay a court fee. Also, the adoption agency has a particular fee you must pay.
Adoption cost also includes the cost of immigration (if applicable), paperwork cost, adoption consultant fees, birth family costs, and many other costs.
Overall, the average cost of adoption can be around $3,000 for public adoption. For private domestic adoption, you must spend around $40,000 on average. International adoption, on the other hand, often costs around $50,000.
What can Happen If I Don’t Hire an Adoption Lawyer?
If you don’t hire an adoption lawyer, some major issues may occur and hamper the process. For example- without a lawyer, you may not understand the process and paperwork associated with it. As a result, your application may fail.
You can try resolving this alone and do it somehow but fail to meet the deadline. Also, without an attorney’s help, you may misunderstand the terms and conditions of adopting.
Your appointed attorney helps you to calculate the cost of adoption. Without someone experienced, you may miscalculate it, which may create a complex situation later.
Again, without an attorney or lawyer, you can’t resolve the disputes taking place in the process.
In a word, the process of adopting someone is complex. If you don’t hire an attorney, complexity can occur anytime.
However, you can always arrange a consultation session whenever you get stuck. However, this is not a feasible solution because you still have to manage a lot if you don’t hire someone full-time.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Can I hire a lawyer at any stage of the adoption process?
Hiring someone at the beginning of the process is always recommended. However, if you want to proceed alone but change your mind in the middle of the process, you can hire someone. In such a situation, you need to discuss everything you’ve done before hiring the person so that they can understand where to start.
How long does an adoption process take?
A lot of factors are associated with adoption. As a result, the process takes a long time. Typically, you can expect the process to last around six months to two years. Sometimes, it takes longer than two years. So, before starting the process, you need to make yourself mentally strong.
Am I eligible to adopt?
Your eligibility to adopt is measured by several criteria. The criteria vary based on the country and state you live in. So, it is tough to say whether you’re eligible to adopt. You should go through your state’s adoption law to check your eligibility. Also, you can directly consult an adoption lawyer to check and discuss your eligibility.