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

Yes, you can ask the Orphans' Court about adopting your stepchild, and a previous marriage is not one of the Pennsylvania requirements covered here. Whether your own marital history affects your case is something the Orphans' Court clerk in your county or an attorney can confirm for your situation.

What the court looks at instead. Pennsylvania's stepparent adoption rules focus on these points:

• Residency: Pennsylvania has no minimum residency period (23 Pa.C.S. § 2302).
• Your child's consent: A child who is 12 or older must consent (23 Pa.C.S. § 2711). Younger children do not have this consent requirement.
• The other biological parent: Pennsylvania requires their consent and proper notice to them. If they do not consent, the adoption can still be granted when abandonment is proven. The abandonment period is 6 months (23 Pa.C.S. § 2511).
• Home study: A home study is waived in stepparent adoptions (23 Pa.C.S. § 2531(c); § 2535(a)).

Your spouse's former partner. If you married a parent who was previously married or partnered, their ex is probably the child's other legal parent. That makes the consent and notice points above the ones that matter most for your family.

• Paying child support does not by itself prevent an abandonment finding. Pennsylvania courts look at the whole relationship, not only money.
• If the other parent objects, the adoption can still be granted if abandonment is proven. That depends on the facts, so ask an attorney about your specific case.
• If you cannot locate the other parent, Pennsylvania has procedures for giving notice by publication.

Contested or unclear situations. If the other parent objects, has been out of the picture for a long time, or cannot be found, how the court treats your case depends on your facts. Talk with the Orphans' Court clerk in your county or an attorney about that issue.

Cost and timing. Court filing fees run about $200-$500, and the typical total cost is under $550, compared with $3,000-$5,000+ for an attorney. A stepparent adoption in Pennsylvania typically takes 3-6 months.

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 then file it yourself without an attorney. The price is $349 for the first child and $99 for each additional child. Court-ready documents are delivered within 24-48 hours after you finish the questions, and we back them with a 100% court acceptance guarantee. We have helped 1250 Pennsylvania families, and 34,000+ families nationally since 2001.