Can a step-grandparent adopt a grandchild in Minnesota?

A step-grandparent may be able to adopt a grandchild in Minnesota, but the answer depends on the grandchild's age and on who the child's legal parents are. Minnesota lets a person who has lived in the state for one year or more petition the District Court to adopt (Minn. Stat. § 259.22, subd. 1). No minimum age for the adopting person is stated. The statutes we work from do not set out a separate rule for step-grandparents, so the District Court clerk in your county or an attorney should confirm how your family's situation is treated.

Start with your role. A step-grandparent is married to the child's grandparent. If you are also married to the child's parent, you are the child's stepparent, and the stepparent process applies to you. These are the Minnesota stepparent rules:

• Court: You file in District Court. Venue is the county where the petitioner lives, and Minnesota has 87 counties.
• Residency: The general rule is 1 year (Minn. Stat. § 259.22). The court may shorten it to 30 days, and may waive it for a stepparent.
• Home study: It is waived for stepparent adoptions (Minn. Stat. § 259.41).
• Child's consent: The consent age is 14 (Minn. Stat. § 259.24).
• Timeline: Stepparent adoptions typically take 3-6 months.

If the grandchild is a minor and you are not married to a parent: Whether the stepparent waivers apply to you, and what is needed from each legal parent, depends on the facts of your family. This is especially true if a parent is absent, unknown, or does not agree. For those questions, ask the District Court clerk or an attorney. For reference, Minnesota's abandonment period is 6 months (Minn. Stat. § 260C.301), but how it applies to a particular situation is a legal question for an attorney.