Legal Question in Family Law in New Mexico

My wife and I wish to legally adopt our grandson who is 16 years old and has lived with us for two years. He and his mother are in aggrement. Does this need to be done through a lawyer or can we find the necessary paper work in the internet? Does the adoption take a long time???


Asked on 1/14/13, 3:21 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

John Watson John Watson, Attorney at Law

First and foremost ~ in the law everything takes longer than you think it should. And in continuing to answer your questions back to front I would say that if you have a fair amount of legal experience, legal writing and reading statutes and filing legal documents you might be able to do this without a lawyer. If you are considering to use one of those places from New York City that advertise they can prepare your legal documents . . . . my considered opinion is that you should just save your money and hire a lawyer. Adoption is a completely statutory matter and the statute must be satisfied in total. If you miss one point chances are the judge will kick the paperwork back to you. And, the judge won't be able to tell you what you did wrong she will just say, it is not complete. You made a statement about everybody involved except for the grandson's father. The statute also addresses who has to give consent and if they don't then how you deal with that. Last, sounds like you are on the path to doing a nice thing. . . . find yourself a lawyer and keep on going.

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Answered on 1/14/13, 9:33 pm


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