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Making It Official
A Guide to Stepparent Adoption
By National Adoption Information Clearinghouse
Nothing can replace the qualified legal advice of an adoption attorney admitted to the bar in your state. Adoption attorneys will know the relevant state adoption laws and will be able to research case law decisions in 
your state that may have established legal precedents applicable in your situation.
The National Adoption Information Clearinghouse (NAIC) State Statutes Series provides summaries of state laws regarding certain aspects of adoption, including these:
NAIC's Resources for State Adoption Statutes provides full-text adoption laws along with the citations that will help you to locate the applicable title or chapter in your state laws.
2. Contact the court in your county that handles adoptions.
In some states adoptions are handled in juvenile court; in other states the family court or surrogacy court handles adoptions. Ask to speak to the court clerk or other employee who can provide information about stepparent adoptions. (Court employees may not dispense legal advice.) Many courts have an information packet that can be mailed to you. If the court does not have a prepared packet, find out the following in your phone call:
- Wether court regulations require you to be represented by an attorney during stepparent adoption proceedings, or whether you can represent yourself.