Bradenton Adult Adoption Featured on Ellen DeGeneres Show
This week, a Bradenton adult adoption was featured on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Monyay, 19, appeared with her new adoptive mom, Leah Paskalides. You can see a video clip below.
Tag Archive for: Florida adoption
Why Florida LGBTQ Families Should Be Concerned About Simmonds v. Perkins
If your child is born while you and your spouse are married, you both will always be considered the parents of the child, right? Well, not necessarily. LGBTQ families should be aware of their family law rights. And according to Simmonds v. Perkins, 247 So. 3d 397 (Fla. 2018), those family law rights may be at risk.
Facts of Simmonds v. Perkins
Simmonds v. Perkins involves a Husband, a Wife, and a Biological Father. While married to Husband, Wife has an affair with Biological Father. Wife gets pregnant from Biological Father. While still married to Husband, Wife gives birth to child.
Now, Biological Father did not know that Wife was married to Husband at the time of the affair, and once Biological Father did learn about the marriage, Wife told him that the marriage was only for “immigration purposes.”
After the child was born, Biological Father would visit the child regularly and paid Wife child support. Eventually, Biological Father filed an action in court to be named the child’s legal father, have all of the rights of a father (including ability to make decisions and right to spend time with the child), and take on the obligation of child support.
Wife files a motion to dismiss the action because the child was born during an intact marriage between her and Husband. Traditionally, that meant that there was a strong legal presumption that Husband was the legal father of the child, and it was very difficult for any third party to challenge this status. Husband would later join as a party and also requested that his rights be respected and the case be dismissed.
Nonprofit in Florida Offers Grants for Adoption Costs
The Tampa Bay Times recently ran a story about the Gift of Adoption Fund. Gift of Adoption Fund is a 501(c)(3) organization with a chapter in Florida that helps prospective adoptive parents in need defray some of the costs of adoption.
You can find portions of the Tampa Bay Times story below.
Adoption Client Review: Outstanding Lawyer
An adoption client recently left a review of Family Diplomacy: A Collaborative Law Firm on Avvo.com.
As required by the Florida Bar, we note that each case is different, and you may not receive the same or similar results.
The review is reproduced below:
Client Review: Stepparent Adoption & Name Change
Whether we are handling a divorce, paternity, name change, or adoption matter, we treat our clients with care and respect to help them meet their goals.
I was recently reviewed on Avvo.com by a client in a stepparent adoption matter who discussed her experience.
As I am required to note by the Florida Bar, please understand that every case is different, and you may not receive the same or similar results. You can find the review after the jump:
Pasco Adoption Judge Retires
Sixth Circuit Unified Family Court Judge William R. Webb enjoyed his last day on the bench granting adoptions. From the Tampa Tribune:
NEW PORT RICHEY – He just as easily could have spent the day romping with his 2½-year-old grandson or reading the novel he never had time to open while serving as a circuit court judge for the Sixth Judicial Circuit.
Instead, Judge William Webb, 67, spent New Year’s Eve, the first day of his retirement, at the Pasco County Courthouse — officiating at the adoption of a group of children he had shepherded through the court system.
Anti-Gay Language Stripped From Florida Adoption Laws
Up until recently, chapter 63 of the Florida Statutes, which contains the state’s adoption laws, was explicitly anti-gay. Chapter 63 and adoption case law stated that whether prospective parents could adopt a child should be based on the best interests of the child, with one exception.
That exception was laid out in Florida Statutes section 63.042(3) (2014), which provided that “No person eligible to adopt under this statute may adopt if that person is a homosexual.”
Client Review: Adult Adoption in Florida
Floridians know about child adoption, but many do not realize that adults may be adopted as well. Whether you have an adult step child, adult foster child, adult relative, or other person, Florida courts generally will grant adult adoptions so long the adoptee is younger than the prospective adoptive parent. Florida courts have even granted adult adoptions that were explicitly for tax planning and estate planning purposes.
A former client of mine whom I recently helped in an adult adoption wrote a review of her experience on Avvo.com. FLORIDA BAR DISCLAIMER: Please note that every case is different, and you may not receive the same or similar results.
You can see the review after the jump:
Florida Same-Sex Marriage – Will I Be On My Child’s Birth Certificate?
It has long been the law in Florida that when a child is born during an intact marriage between a man and a woman, the husband shall be placed on the birth certificate. Generally, this is the case even if the husband is not the biological father of the child; the right of the child to be considered “legitimate” is so strong that it does not matter whether there is an actual genetic connection between the child and the father.
Now that Florida’s ban on same-sex marriage has been declared unconstitutional by a federal judge and marriage licenses are being provided to same-sex couples, will a hospital put a woman on a birth certificate if her wife gives birth?
Florida Adult Adoption and ObamaCare
There is now a new reason for adult foster children to consider formalizing their relationship via a Florida adoption: health insurance coverage for young adults under the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as ObamaCare.
Though the law has been highly controversial and plagued with technological and political missteps, one portion of the law that has received near-universal praise is the ability for parents to cover their children up to the age of 26. Unfortunately, adult foster children may not be eligible for this benefit. But there is a solution.
Section 63.042(1) of the Florida Statutes permits any person, a minor or an adult, to be adopted. Florida law also has an expedited process so that an adult adoption can be accomplished much more quickly than most adoptions of children.
