An adult unmarried person, an adult married couple together, or any two unmarried adult intimate partners together may adopt another person. An adult married person who is living separate and apart from his or her spouse pursuant to a decree or judgment of separation or pursuant to a written agreement of separation subscribed by the parties thereto and acknowledged or proved in the form required to entitle a deed to be recorded or an adult married person who has been living separate and apart from his or her spouse for at least three years prior to commencing an adoption proceeding may adopt another person; provided, however, that the person so adopted shall not be deemed the child or step-child of the non-adopting spouse for the purposes of inheritance or support rights or obligations or for any other purposes. An adult or minor married couple together may adopt a child of either of them born in or out of wedlock and an adult or minor spouse may adopt such a child of the other spouse. No person shall hereafter be adopted except in pursuance of this article, and in conformity with section three hundred seventy-three of the social services law.
An adult married person who has executed a legally enforceable separation agreement or is a party to a marriage in which a valid decree of separation has been entered or has been living separate and apart from his or her spouse for at least three years prior to commencing an adoption proceeding and who becomes or has been the custodian of a child placed in their care as a result of court ordered foster care may apply to such authorized agency for placement of said child with them for the purpose of adoption. Final determination of the propriety of said adoption of such foster child, however, shall be within the sole discretion of the court, as otherwise provided herein.
Adoption is the legal proceeding whereby a person takes another person into the relation of child and thereby acquires the rights and incurs the responsibilities of parent in respect of such other person.
A proceeding conducted in pursuance of this article shall constitute a judicial proceeding. An order of adoption or abrogation made therein by a surrogate or by a judge shall have the force and effect of and shall be entitled to all the presumptions attaching to a judgment rendered by a court of general jurisdiction in a common law action.
No adoption heretofore lawfully made shall be abrogated by the enactment of this article. All such adoptions shall have the effect of lawful adoptions hereunder.
Nothing in this article in regard to a minor adopted pursuant hereto inheriting from the adoptive parent applies to any will, devise or trust made or created before June twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred seventy-three, nor alters, changes or interferes with such will, devise or trust. As to any such will, devise or trust a minor adopted before that date is not an heir so as to alter estates or trusts or devises in wills so made or created. Nothing in this article in regard to an adult adopted pursuant hereto inheriting from the adoptive parent applies to any will, devise or trust made or created before April twenty-second, nineteen hundred fifteen, nor alters, changes or interferes with such will, devise or trust. As to any such will, devise or trust an adult so adopted is not an heir so as to alter estates or trusts or devises in wills so made or created.
It shall be unlawful to preclude a prospective adoptive parent or parents solely on the basis that the adoptor or adopters has had, or has cancer, or any other disease. Nothing herein shall prevent the rejection of a prospective applicant based upon his or her poor health or limited life expectancy.
Matter of Marian T. (Lauren R.), 2020 NY Slip Op 06932, ¶ 3, 36 N.Y.3d 44, 50-51, 137 N.Y.S.3d 272, 275, 161 N.E.3d 460, 463
Indeed, the adoption of an adult has been expressly permitted by statute since at least 1915, providing a means of legally formalizing a parent-child relationship (see Matter of Robert Paul P., 63 NY2d 233, 237, 471 NE2d 424, 481 NYS2d 652 [1984], citing L 1915, ch 352; see also Domestic Relations Law § 110 [providing that an adult may adopt “another person” and containing no restriction on the age of the adoptee]). Like an adoption involving a minor, “an adult adoption must still be in the best interests of the adoptive child and the familial, social, religious, emotional and financial circumstances of the adoptive parents which may be relevant must still be investigated” (Matter of Robert Paul P., 63 NY2d at 237 [internal quotation marks, alterations and citations omitted]). In other words, the fact that the adoptee is an adult does not significantly alter or “dilute” the legislative purpose underlying the adoption statutes or the standards that must be met to grant an adoption. Although in other contexts the term “child” may refer to an individual under the age of majority, it is evident that in this statute the word “child” refers not to the age of the adoptee but the nature of the filial relationship between the party seeking to adopt and the person being adopted (see generally Robert Paul P., 63 NY2d 233, 471 NE2d 424, 481 NYS2d 6523 Thus, it is clear from the text of Domestic Relations Law §§ 111 (1) (a) and 109 that the statute requires the consent of any adoptee over the age of 14 but gives courts the discretion to dispense with that consent in appropriate circumstances.