Is there an age limit for adult adoption in Maine?

Short answer: No age limit appears in Maine's adult adoption law. Under 18-C M.R.S. § 9-301, a petition may be filed "to adopt a person, regardless of age." The only age line you need to know is that the person being adopted is an adult, meaning 18 or older.

Other conditions the law does not set:

• Adoptee's age: There is no stated upper limit, and no relationship, disability or age-gap condition for the person being adopted.
• Adopter's age: The same section lets "spouses or unmarried persons jointly or an unmarried person" petition. It states no minimum age for the adopter and no required age gap between adopter and adoptee. If your situation is unusual, the Probate Court clerk in your county can confirm how this works in practice.

Who must consent:

• The adoptee: Consent is required when the adoptee is 12 or older, so an adult adoptee must agree.
• The adoptee's parents: Consent is not required of "a parent of an adoptee who is 18 years of age or older" (18-C M.R.S. § 9-302(1)(A), (2)(E)).
• Spouses: A married adopter petitions jointly with their spouse. The consent sections do not mention the adoptee's spouse, so ask the clerk or an attorney if that applies to you.

How the process works for an adult:

• Court: Adoption petitions are filed in the Probate Court.
• Where to file: When no agency placed the adoptee, venue is the county where the adoptee or the petitioners live. Maine has 16 counties.
• Residency: There is no minimum residency period. A petitioner may be a resident or nonresident of the State.
• Home study: Not required for an adult. The study-and-report and background-check requirements apply to the adoption of a minor child (18-C M.R.S. § 9-304(1)).
• Hearing: The decree is granted if the petitioner "has been heard or has waived hearing" (18-C M.R.S. § 9-308(1)), so a hearing can be waived.
• Timeline: Adult adoptions in Maine typically finish in 4-8 weeks. Stepparent adoptions of minors usually take longer, at 3-6 months.

Where to check first: Contested situations, an unknown or missing parent, or anything specific to your family depends on the facts. For those, and for the current filing fee, ask the Probate Court clerk in your county or an attorney. We can't give legal advice for an individual case.

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 one adult adoptee, and you receive court-ready documents within 24-48 hours after you finish the questions. We include a 100% court acceptance guarantee. We have helped 151 Maine families, and more than 34,000 families nationally since 2001.