Adoption is a long and complicated administrative process that requires patience. To ensure that your wish to form a family is fulfilled in the best possible conditions, it's essential to consult your notary. Stéphanie Swiklinski, a qualified notary, tells you more by answering a few questions.
What's the difference between simple and full adoption?
Unlike natural filiation, which is formalized by a simple declaration of recognition of the child at the town hall, filiation by adoption is established by a court decision. This is a judgment handed down by the tribunal de grande instance in the adopter's place of residence. The judge will examine whether you are in a position to adopt a child and meet its needs throughout its life. There are in fact two types of adoption, which do not have the same repercussions, particularly in terms of inheritance.
Full adoption is irrevocable. The link between the child and the family of origin (biological) is severed. This adoption confers on the child a filiation that replaces the original one. The adoptive parents become the child's only "real" parents, with all the rights and duties that entails. The child will also take the adopter's name. In terms of inheritance, the adopted child enjoys the same rights as other children.
Simple adoption, on the other hand, makes it possible to maintain a link with the family of origin. The child then benefits from the same inheritance rights as biological children. Their ties with their family of origin are not severed, and they retain all their rights, including inheritance rights. In practical terms, the child inherits from both adoptive and biological parents. Adoptive parents have full parental rights.
Who can adopt a child today?
Any couple married for more than 2 years, or if each member is over 28, can apply to adopt a child. The law has evolved along with society, and since the 2013 TAUBIRA law, marriage and adoption have been open to same-sex couples. When you're single, it's possible to adopt if you're over 28 and have a solid file. For unmarried couples (cohabiting or pacsés), only one member of the couple can adopt a child. Perhaps this point will change one day, given the growing number of people in civil partnerships.
Is it possible to adopt a spouse's child?
In blended families, it's not an isolated case that one member of a couple wants to adopt his or her spouse's child. In the majority of cases, this will involve a simple adoption, enabling the stepfather or stepmother to establish a parent-child relationship with his or her spouse's child. This is possible if the child is a minor, provided the couple is married.
For a full adoption, however, the following conditions must also be met:
- the child must have legally established filiation only with the spouse (in the case of a child who has not been recognized by the other parent);
- the parent other than the spouse has had parental authority totally withdrawn;
- the other parent is deceased and has left no first-degree ascendants (grandparents), or when these have manifestly lost interest in the child.