Fun Fact Friday: Adult Adoption

In Virginia, one adult can adopt another adult, subject to certain conditions. The person to be adopted must fall into one of four categories:

• A stepchild of the adopting adult, who has been treated as a child of the adopting adult for at least 3 months; or

• A close relative of the adopting adult; or

• A birth child of the adopting adult, or a child who has lived with the adopting adult for at least 3 months before turning 18; or

• The "child" is at least 15 years younger than the adopting adult, they have known each other for at least one year, and there is good cause.

A person adopted as an adult will be treated just like a biological child or a person adopted as a minor.