Adult Adoption in Texas
Much has been written in the news lately about the Michael Oher story. This is a story about a young football player named Michael Oher facing homelessness and how Sean and Leigh Ann Tuohy took him in. Micheal Oher went on to become a successful NCAA and NFL football player. A book about their story led to a famous movie (The Blind Side) starring Sandra Bullock. The film generated revenues of over $300 Million. Recently, Michael Oher filed a suit against his supposed adoptive parents, the Tuohys. The Tuohys seem to imply that since Michael Oher was an adult, they could not adopt him, and instead had to file for legal conservatorship, and even brought in his biological mother to appear in Court.
In Texas, this need not be the case. Texas Family Code provides for an avenue to adopt an adult. Texas law specifically states that a Court may grant a petition to adopt another adult. If the person filing the petition (“Petitioner”) is married, then both spouses must join in on the petition. In order for the Court to grant this adoption, the adult being adopted must consent in writing. Texas law does not require the parental rights of the original parents to be terminated when adopting an adult.
Once a person has been adopted, the effect of the adoption includes the fact the adopted adult is entitled to inherit from the adoptive parents as if the adopted adult were their biological child. In this scenario, the adopted adult may not automatically inherit from the adult’s biological parents, and the biological parents may not inherit from the adopted child. The Court will generally grant the adult adoption unless something suspicious is going on, such as an attempt to avoid paying debt.
JOHN AND MORGAN is a versatile law firm that handles Family Law cases such as Divorce, Child Support, and Child Custody. We do Wills and Estate Planning. We also do Intellectual Property work such as Patents and Trademark
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