Adult Adoption in Michigan: Conditions, Filing, and Inheritance

Adult adoption in Michigan is a court process that turns an existing bond, usually between a stepparent, foster parent, or long-time caregiver and the person they raised, into a full legal parent-child relationship. You file a petition in the Family Division of the Circuit Court, the adoptee signs a written consent, biological parents get notice, and once the judge signs the order the adoptee is your legal child for inheritance, naming, and federal tax purposes. The base filing fee is $150, though local costs push some counties slightly higher.¹

Who Can File and Where

The petition goes to the circuit court in the county where the petitioner lives or where the adoptee is found, and at least one party has to be a Michigan resident.² There is no minimum age gap between the two adults, and the adopting parent does not have to be older than the adoptee.

If you are married, the general rule is that you and your spouse file together. A married person can file alone as long as all interested parties consent.²

The Three Conditions the Court Must See

Adult adoption is lighter than minor adoption, but it is not automatic. Under MCL 710.56, the judge cannot enter the order until three things are in the file:³

The adoptee’s written consent. Without it, nothing else matters.
A written investigation report. The court directs the investigation, which is typically done by a court employee, agent, or child-placing agency. It is less involved than a home study for a minor adoption, but it does happen.
Notice to all interested parties, including surviving biological parents whose rights have not already been terminated or released.

The notice requirement is the one that surprises people. Adult adoption does not terminate biological parental rights the way a minor adoption does, but the statute still requires that biological parents be told the petition has been filed.

Finding and Serving Biological Parents

Contact information for the biological parents is the petitioner’s responsibility, not the court’s. Kent County spells this out plainly on its adult-adoption page.⁴ If a biological parent cannot be located, raise it with the clerk early; skipping required notice will stall or defeat the petition. The court may also order notice to additional parties if the interests of justice call for it.³

Forms You Need

The State Court Administrative Office publishes the approved forms. A typical adult-adoption packet, drawing from Livingston County’s list, includes:⁵

PCA 301, Petition for Adoption, the core filing.⁶
PCA 307, Consent to Adoption by Adoptee, signed by the adult being adopted.⁷
PCA 347, Petitioner’s Verified Accounting, a financial disclosure.
PCA 346, Attorney’s Statement of Services, only if an attorney is involved.

The petition asks for full legal names, current addresses, and dates of birth for both people. Bring the adoptee’s birth certificate to help the clerk verify identity. Counties add their own local requirements, so call the clerk in your filing county before you assemble the packet. Grand Traverse County, for example, requires you to meet with an adoption specialist before you can file.⁸

Filing Fee and the Hearing

The statutory filing fee for a petition for adoption is $150.¹ Some counties add local costs that bring the total closer to $175 or a little more.⁸ Cash, money order, and credit card are usually accepted. If the fee is a hardship, Michigan law allows you to ask for a waiver.

Once the petition is on file, the investigation report is complete, and notice has been served, the court sets a hearing. Both people appear before the judge. The judge confirms the adoptee’s written consent, reviews the paperwork, and, if the conditions in MCL 710.56(5) are met, signs the Order of Adoption.³ That signed order is the legal proof of the new relationship.

What the Order Changes for Inheritance

This is where adult adoption does its real work, and where petitioners most often misunderstand the consequences. After the order is entered, the adoptee gains full inheritance rights from the adoptive parent and all of that parent’s relatives, exactly as a biological child would.⁹

The trade-off is permanent. The adopted adult is no longer an heir at law of the biological parents or their relatives.⁹ If a biological parent dies without a will after the adoption, the adopted person has no claim through intestate succession. Michigan’s Estates and Protected Individuals Code reinforces the point: an adopted individual is the child of the adoptive parents, not the natural parents.¹⁰ The one exception is stepparent adoption, where the tie to the other biological parent remains intact.

Rights that had already vested before the order was entered are not undone.⁹ Anything not yet vested is gone. If the adoptee still wants to receive something from a biological parent’s estate, that parent needs a will that says so.

Name Change and Amended Birth Certificate

If the petition asks for a name change, the adoption order itself authorizes it. The adoptee is known by the new name from the date of the order, with no separate name-change proceeding required.⁹

To update the birth certificate, contact the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Vital Records Division. You submit an application with a certified copy of the adoption order, and the amended certificate lists the adoptive parent as the legal parent. Current fees can be confirmed by calling the Vital Records Changes Unit at 517-335-8660.

Federal Tax Treatment

After the order is entered, the adoptee is the petitioner’s legal child for federal tax purposes. Gifts between the adoptive parent and the adult child qualify for the annual gift-tax exclusion, which is $19,000 per recipient for 2026.¹¹ Adopted children also count as beneficiaries under the federal estate-tax rules on the same footing as biological children. For families using adult adoption as part of an estate plan, that equal treatment, combined with full state inheritance rights, is often the reason to file at all.

What Adult Adoption Will Not Do

Adult adoption in Michigan does not create a path to U.S. immigration benefits. Federal immigration law defines an “adopted child” as someone adopted before their sixteenth birthday who lived with the adoptive parent for at least two years, so an adult adoption does not meet the definition and the adoptive parent cannot sponsor the adoptee for an immigrant visa on that basis. Talk to an immigration attorney before filing if immigration status is any part of the reason you are considering the adoption.

1
Michigan Courts. Circuit Court Fee and Assessments Table
2
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 710.24 – Petition for Adoption; Filing; Jurisdiction; Verification; Contents; Preplacement Assessment; Omission of Certain Identifying Information
3
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 710.56 – Order of Adoption; Time; Waiver; Extension of Time; Hearing; Effect of Filing Petition for Rehearing or Appeal From Order Terminating Parental Rights; Conditions; Adoption of Adult
4
Kent County, MI. Adult Adoptions
5
Livingston County, MI. Adoption Forms
6
Michigan Courts. Petition for Adoption
7
Michigan Courts. PCA 307, Consent to Adoption by Adoptee
8
Grand Traverse County. Adoptions
9
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 710.60 – Adoptee to Be Known and Called by New Name; Status and Liability of Persons Adopting Adoptee; Rights and Duties of Adopted Person; Adopted Person as Heir at Law; Order for Grandparenting Time
10
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 700.2114
11
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026, Including Amendments From the One, Big, Beautiful Bill