We divorced and remarried — can my spouse adopt my child now in Mississippi?

Yes, if you are now legally married to your child's parent, you can ask the Mississippi Chancery Court to approve a stepparent adoption. The rules we work from do not single out a earlier divorce or remarriage, so what matters is your current family situation and the steps below. If your history involves anything unusual, such as a prior custody order, the Chancery Court clerk in your county can tell you how it is handled locally.

What Mississippi looks at:

• Where you file: Chancery Court, in one of Mississippi's 82 counties. The clerk in your county can confirm the right venue and local filing steps.
• Residency: Miss. Code § 93-17-3 sets a 6-month residency rule.
• Your age: Mississippi requires adopting parents to be at least 21 or at least 10 years older than the child.
• Child's consent: If your child is 14 or older, a consent is required under Miss. Code § 93-17-5.
• The other biological parent: Under Miss. Code § 93-17-5, parents are brought into the case either by court process or by filing their consent. Mississippi allows personal service by a sheriff or process server, or service by publication if the parent's location is unknown.
• Abandonment: If the other parent has not been involved, Miss. Code § 93-15-103 uses a 12-month abandonment period. Whether your facts meet it is a question for the court.
• Home study: Miss. Code § 93-17-11 provides that stepparent adoptions are exempt from the home study that applies in many other adoptions.

Documents you will typically need:

• A Petition for Adoption
• Consent forms, or a motion to waive consent
• Your spouse's consent to the adoption
• The court filing itself

Timeline and cost: A stepparent adoption in Mississippi typically takes 3-6 months. Court filing fees run $150-$300, and the total cost is typically under $1,000. Hiring an attorney for the whole process often runs $3,000-$5,000+.

When to get individual help: If the other parent objects, can't be found, or you are unsure whether abandonment applies, talk to the Chancery Court clerk or a Mississippi attorney about that specific issue. Those cases depend on the facts and can take a different path than an agreed adoption.

Many blended families have complicated histories, and the court's focus is on your child's current home and the legal steps being followed correctly. We have helped 454 Mississippi families with this process.

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 cost is $349 for the first child, plus $99 for each additional child.