Can I adopt my stepchild in Mississippi if I was previously married to someone else?

Yes. You can ask the Chancery Court to approve a stepparent adoption in Mississippi even if you were married before. The requirements below are about your current family and the child, and none of them are written around an earlier marriage. If you want to know whether your county's court wants any paperwork about a prior marriage, such as divorce records, the Chancery Court clerk in your county can confirm that. An attorney can advise you on anything specific to your situation.

Where your case is filed: Stepparent adoptions go through the Chancery Court in the county where you file. Mississippi has 82 counties, and the adoption statutes are in Mississippi Code Title 93, Chapter 17.

What your paperwork centers on:

• Your current family: The filing includes a petition for adoption and your spouse's consent to the adoption.
• Residency: Mississippi sets a residency period of 6 months (Miss. Code § 93-17-3). The clerk can confirm how it applies to your family.
• The child's consent: A child who is 14 or older must consent (Miss. Code § 93-17-5).
• The other parent: Your paperwork includes either consent forms or a motion to waive consent. Mississippi's abandonment period is 12 months (Miss. Code § 93-15-103). If the other parent may object, or the situation is contested, the facts matter a great deal, so talk to the clerk or an attorney about that specific issue.
• Finding the other parent: Mississippi allows personal service by a sheriff or process server, and service by publication if a parent's location is unknown.
• Home study: Mississippi waives the home study for stepparent adoptions (Miss. Code § 93-17-11).

Your age: Mississippi requires adopting parents to be at least 21 or at least 10 years older than the child. This is the kind of eligibility question the court looks at, rather than how many times you have been married.

Cost and timing: Court filing fees in Mississippi typically run $150-$300, and the total typical cost of a stepparent adoption done without an attorney is under $1,000, compared with $3,000-$5,000+ for attorney representation. A stepparent adoption in Mississippi typically takes 3-6 months.

Don't let your history hold you back: Blended families come in many forms, and many Mississippi stepparents have been married before. What you are asking the court to recognize is the parent you are to this child today.

How we help: StepParent Adoption 360 is a document preparation service, not a law firm. You answer questions online, and we prepare the complete court document package for your county. You file it yourself without an attorney. The price is $349 for the first child, plus $99 for each additional child, and your court-ready documents arrive within 24-48 hours after you finish the questions. We have helped 454 Mississippi families, and we back our work with a 100% court acceptance guarantee.