Thank you for reading this. My brother’s wife died recently. Her five children are from a previous relationship. Two of the children are minors with no living biological parents. Is it possible for my brother to adopt his stepchildren (all of whom live with him and have been for years) without hiring a lawyer? We don’t have a lot of disposable income and even a $250 half-hour consultation with a lawyer is beyond our reach at this time. They all live in Virginia and are all US citizens. Are there forms my brother can submit to the circuit court without needing a lawyer? Thank you for any advice or guidance.
Who currently has guardianship?
Call or go to the Superior court in his jurisdiction and ask the clerk if there’s any such package he could use to start the paperwork.
Who has custody of the kids now? If they are minors, someone should be awarded guardianship. Why does he want to adopt them?
He needs to file guardianship paperwork so he can still get the social security survivor payments on behalf of both deceased parents. If he adopts them, he won’t be eligible for the support.
Thank you! Good advice.
Where is the bio parent? Would they contest an adoption?
Both bio parents are deceased.
Is the brother collecting social security death benefits for the children?
Not yet. This happened less than a week ago, so we’re still trying to figure everything out. He’s going to file with the district court to petition for guardianship.
The first person who files gets the money, so make this a priority. He needs to be the representative payee for the children.
I want to say that’s good but that’s sad for the children that both of their bio parents are dead. The kids are lucky that you love them enough to be willing to adopt them.
Reach out to Virginia Legal Aid and your local courts to find out how to petition for guardianship. You will need some sort of legal framework to take care of the kids’ health and school decisions.
Maybe legal aid can help.
Thank you everyone! I have called the district court and my brother is making an appointment to file for legal guardianship.
He might do better to contact child protection services. They would get certain benefits from the state that way, and he’d get income.
Yeah, that’s not how CPS works.
Since the kids’ bio parents are deceased, they are eligible to receive survivor benefits from SS.
Have him go to the local juvenile or probate court and file the petition for custody. He will have to get custody first. Then, maybe someone can point him in the right direction for formal adoption.
Your brother can’t afford adoption sadly. It is crazy expensive. That said, he can petition for custody as guardian.