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

Yes, if you are legally married to your child's parent now, you can pursue a stepparent adoption in Tennessee, and a past divorce followed by remarriage is not listed anywhere in Tennessee's requirements as a barrier. What the process looks at is your current marriage, your spouse's consent, and the legal position of the child's other parent. If you want certainty about how a court treats your particular history, the Chancery or Circuit Court clerk in your county or an attorney can confirm it.

Your marriage: Tennessee doesn't specify a minimum marriage duration, though courts generally prefer to see a stable relationship. Your spouse's consent to the adoption is part of the filing.

What Tennessee requires:

• Court: You file in Chancery or Circuit Court. Tennessee has 95 counties, and you file in the one that applies to your family.
• Residency: Tennessee sets no minimum residency period (Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-1-115).
• Core paperwork: A Petition for Adoption, a sworn statement of financial responsibility, and your spouse's consent to the adoption.
• Child's consent: Consent from the child comes into play at age 14 (Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-1-117).
• Home study: Tennessee waives it for stepparent adoptions (Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-1-116).

The child's other parent: This is the part that depends most on your facts. The other legal parent's rights have to be addressed in any stepparent adoption. Tennessee's abandonment provisions use a four-month period (Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-1-113). Whether that applies to your family is a question for the clerk or an attorney. If you can't locate the other parent, Tennessee allows service by publication after a diligent search. If the other parent might contest the adoption, talk with an attorney about that specific issue.

Why the divorce and remarriage matter less than you might fear: Many families have complicated histories. The paperwork centers on who the child's legal parents are today, who is consenting, and who must be notified. Your timeline of divorce and remarriage is background, but the clerk can tell you whether your county's judges want any extra documents, such as proof of your current marriage.

Timeline and cost:

• Timeline: A stepparent adoption in Tennessee typically takes 3-6 months.
• Court filing fees: Typically $150-$350.
• Total cost: Typically under $1,000 when you prepare the paperwork yourself, compared with $3,000-$5,000+ for an attorney.

Next steps:

• Gather your marriage certificate and the child's birth certificate.
• Find out what the other parent's current legal status is, and whether you can locate them.
• Call the Chancery or Circuit Court clerk in your county to ask about local filing steps.

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 arrive within 24-48 hours after you finish the questions, and we back them with a 100% court acceptance guarantee. We have helped 967 Tennessee families.