Legal Information

Adoption  

This section contains information and resources to educate the public and to help the couples and individuals seeking adoption.

Classification of Adoption

There is relatively variety of conducts to adopt a child and authenticate your legal relationship through adoption. The followings are the list and process of different categories that an individual may chose for adoption.

Agency Adoption

In agency adoption, a licensed private agency or a public agency is involved with the placement of the child.  Public agencies usually position children who have become charges of the state for different reasons such as orphanage, abandonment, or abuse. Private agencies place the children that are usually brought to the agency by the expected parents that want to give up their child for adoption.  These agencies are usually run by social service organizations or charities.

Independent Adoption

In an independent or private adoption, no agency is involved. The independent adoption may involve express agreement between the birth parents and the adoptive parents or by involving a mediator such as an attorney, doctor. However, in most independent adoptions an attorney is usually involve for processing the court official procedure.

Independent Adoption

In an identified or designated adoption, the birth mother and adopting parents find each other and then request an adoption agency to be involved for the adoption process.

International Adoption

In an international adoption, the child is a citizen of a foreign country.  In this case, the adapting process should convince the adopting parents’ home state in the United State as well as adoption requirements of the foreign country.  At the time of entering U.S., the parents must obtain an immigrant visa for the child through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the child will become U.S. citizen automatically upon entering the United States.

Stepparent Adoption

In a stepparent adoption, the parent’s new spouse adopts the child or children of the parent with a previous relationship. Compare to the agency or independent adoption, the stepparent adoption procedures are very simple, especially if the child or children involved and the other parent consent to the adoption.

Single-Parent Adoption

Currently, all 50 states and the District of Columbia allow single parents to adopt. In these instances, the single parent accepts full legal responsibility for the financial care and rising of the child.

Domestic Partner Adoption

In California, a new law allows a same-sex domestic partner to adopt the children of his or her partner under stepparent adoption procedures, so that the process is reasonably speedy and easy. In order to qualify for these procedures, the parties must be registered as domestic partners with the state.  These procedures ensure that both partners are considered legal parents of their child.

Relative Adoption

In a relative or kinship adoption, a member of the child’s family adopts the child.  If the parents die while the children are minors, or the parents are unable or unfitted to take care of the children, the grandparents frequently adopt their grandchildren.  In most states, these adoptions are easier than non-relative adoptions. If the adopted child has siblings who are not adopted at the same time, kinship adoption procedures usually provide for contact between the siblings after the adoption.

Collaborative Family Law 

Welcome to the Collaborative Family Law section of ProsLaw for the Public.  This section contains information and resources to educate and update individuals with Collaborative Practice in family law issue. 

Divorce is ending a marriage and it can be a painful experience as well as a new beginning.  Distinguishing these facts, many individuals wanted to have a more productive way of divorcing. Collaborative Practice or Collaborative Divorce is an answer for the individuals that sought a more constrictive way of divorcing.  It encourages admiration, respect, the priority to the needs of the children and it allows the spouses to have more control of the process.  Collaborative Practice is a different approach of divorcing that can help individual to make a healthy, hopeful transition from one stage of life to the next.

The Concept of Collaborative Law

A rising leaning as an alternative to resolve disputes in family law is the collaborative law.  The collaborative law perception is a structured and supportive out-of-court approach to resolve disputes that allows individuals in a legal disagreement to work together with their attorneys or In Pro Persona to resolve their disputes in a positive approach.  Assigning to the collaborative law procedure in family law, would give the individuals opportunity to finalize a divorce and resolve any property disputes, custody and support issue without stepping into a courtroom.

Development of Collaborative Law

In the early 1990’s, the Minnesota family law attorneys established the collaborative law process as a fair approach, and uncomplicated alternative to divorce cases. Today, in addition to the recently formed International Academy of Collaborative Professionals, many national, regional, state, and local collaborative law groups exist. The focal point of these organizations is mainly on applying the collaborative laws principles to family law, such as divorce and related issues.  Recently, there is an increase in the use of the collaborative process to resolve disputes in other fields such as disagreements that arise in employment and business relationships.