Adult Adoption in Indiana: Consent, Inheritance, and Process

Adult adoption in Indiana lets any resident of the state petition a court to legally adopt a consenting person who is 18 or older, creating a parent-child relationship recognized for inheritance, identity documents, and nearly every other legal purpose. The process is short, requires no home study, and turns on consent given in open court. What it changes, though, is permanent in the ways that matter: inheritance rights move from the biological parents to the adoptive parent, and the legal tie to the biological family ends.

Who Can Adopt and Who Can Be Adopted

Indiana Code 31-19-2-1 sets the eligibility rules. The person being adopted must be at least 18. The person doing the adopting must be an Indiana resident. The statute sets no minimum age gap and does not limit adoption to any particular type of relationship, so stepparents, longtime family friends, mentors, and partners all use the same process.¹

Residency applies only to the adoptive parent. The adult being adopted does not need to live in Indiana, which matters when you’re formalizing a relationship with someone out of state.

Where to File and What the Petition Says

Adult adoption is governed entirely by IC 31-19-2-1, not by the procedures that apply to adopting a minor. That distinction is worth flagging because the minor-adoption statute imposes venue restrictions, agency involvement, and an attorney of record that simply don’t apply here.¹

The adoptive parent files a petition in a court with probate jurisdiction. For an adult adoption, this can be any county in Indiana, so you’re not locked into a particular courthouse based on where either party lives. The petition should identify both parties, describe the relationship, and state the reasons for the adoption. The court then schedules a hearing that both people must attend.

Consent in Open Court

Consent is the core of the process. The adult being adopted has to acknowledge consent in open court, in front of the judge. This is not something handled quietly on paper; both parties should plan to appear and speak.¹

If the person being adopted is married, their spouse must also consent. Indiana Code 31-19-9-1 lists required consents for all adoptions and specifically includes the spouse of the adoptee.²

When the Court Looks Deeper

A home study and background check are not part of the default adult adoption process. The judge retains discretion, though. If something raises concern, the court can order the same investigation used in a child adoption or any other inquiry it considers appropriate.¹

In routine cases this discretion sits unused. It tends to surface when a judge suspects the adoption is being used to sidestep immigration or criminal law.

One narrow rule applies at the boundary of the process. Under Indiana Code 31-19-2-1.1, if the adoptee is a lifetime sex or violent offender and intends to change their name through the adoption, they must give written notice of the petition and the new name to local law enforcement in both their county of residence and the county where they were convicted. The court will not grant the petition until proof of that notice is filed.³

How Adoption Rewrites Inheritance Rights

This is where adult adoption carries its heaviest legal weight. Under Indiana Code 29-1-2-8, an adopted person is treated as a natural child of the adoptive parents for all purposes of intestate succession. That reaches beyond direct inheritance from the adoptive parent to inheritance through the adoptive parent’s relatives. If your adoptive parent’s sibling dies without a will, you have the same claim as their biological nieces and nephews.⁴

The other side matters just as much: once adopted, you are no longer treated as a child of your biological parents for inheritance purposes. If a biological parent later dies without a will, you generally have no intestate inheritance rights from them. People sometimes pursue adult adoption without realizing this cutoff.⁴

Two exceptions soften the rule for adoptions inside a family:

Stepparent adoption. If your biological parent marries the person adopting you, you inherit from both your biological parent and your adoptive parent as though you were the natural child of each.
Adoption by a relative within the sixth degree, such as a great-aunt or second cousin. You inherit through whichever line of parentage produces the greater value at each death in your family.⁴

What Happens to the Legal Tie With Biological Parents

An adoption decree terminates the legal parent-child relationship with biological parents. Under Indiana Code 31-19-15-1, once the adoption is finalized, the biological parents are relieved of all legal duties and obligations to the adopted person and lose all legal rights with respect to that person. The relationship is severed entirely, not partially.⁵

For an adult, no one is losing custody, but the legal consequences still land. Any child support that was owed before the decree is not wiped out, but the ongoing framework of the parent-child relationship no longer exists. That affects inheritance, default medical decision-making authority, and every other area where the law treats parents and children differently from unrelated adults.

New Birth Certificate, or Not

After the adoption is finalized, the Indiana Department of Health issues a new birth certificate showing the adoptive parent’s name. The certificate carries the actual place and date of birth, not the adoption date. The original is sealed with the adoption records and shielded from public inspection except in limited circumstances.⁶⁷

You can opt out. The court, the adoptive parents, or the adopted person may request that no new certificate be issued. Adults being adopted later in life sometimes prefer to leave the existing birth certificate untouched while still gaining the legal benefits.⁶

Can an Adult Adoption Be Undone?

Indiana law recognizes the annulment or revocation of an adoption. Indiana Code 31-19-13-3 provides that when an adoption is annulled or revoked, the original birth certificate is restored. The statute doesn’t lay out detailed grounds for annulment in the adult context, so treat adult adoption as a serious legal commitment rather than something you can easily reverse if you change your mind.⁸

Costs and Whether You Need an Attorney

Court filing fees vary by county, typically running in the range of a few hundred dollars for the petition itself. Attorney fees for an uncontested adult adoption, where both parties agree and nothing complicates the case, vary by attorney and locality but sit well below the cost of a child adoption because there’s no agency, no home study, and no supervision period.

An attorney isn’t required. Having one draft or review the petition is still worth considering. The filing has to be legally sufficient for the court to act on it, and a badly prepared petition can lead to delays or denial. Beyond the paperwork, an attorney can walk you through the inheritance and family-law consequences before you finalize a decision that reshapes your legal identity.

1
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 31-19-2-1 – Adoption of Adult; Petition; Venue; Consent; Investigation
2
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 31-19-9-1 – Consents Required
3
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 31-19-2-1.1
4
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 29-1-2-8 – Adopted Children; Inheritance
5
Justia. Indiana Code 31-19-15 – Effect of Adoption on Parents
6
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 31-19-13-1 – New Certificate of Birth
7
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 31-19-13-2 – Replacement of Original Registration of Birth; Filing; Confidentiality
8
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 31-19-13-3 – Annulment or Revocation of Adoption