What is the Cost of Stepparent Adoption in California?

There are two main areas of potential step parent adoption costs in California:

• Your actual costs. This includes your step parent investigation (like a mini home study) and the fingerprinting fee.
• Your legal fee. The majority of people planning a step parent adoption use an attorney. We will talk about normal fees, as well as some tips on making sure you get the lowest fee while still having quality legal representation.

This page is dedicated to the costs and fees. To learn more about the general laws and procedures of stepparent adoption, you may do so here.

THE COST OF A STEP PARENT INVESTIGATION

The great news about step parent adoption is the required investigation is much less invasive, and significantly less expensive, when compared to a full adoption home study (as when someone adopts a newborn). California law caps the fee a county or private adoption agency can charge at only $700 per child. If you are adopting siblings, usually the agency will reduce the fee for child number two if you are doing the adoptions concurrently.

This fee is for their services and writing a report to the court to recommend your stepparent adoption. If your adoption is one that requires additional services from the agency, there can be additional services. For example, if there is an absent parent who either refuses to consent, or can't be found to consent, the court will want to read a report from an independent entity (the agency) on if terminating the rights of the absent parent will serve the best interests of the child. This report, if needed, is additional to the normally required report, so there is a fee for that separate investigation and report. Usually the charge is less than $700.

One of the requirements of the adopting stepparent is to be fingerprinted for a criminal and child abuse registry check. This fee is usually $64.

So that's it for costs! Good news when you consider how much lower they are when compared to a traditional adoption, where the California Department of Social Services charges $4,500 for that more involved home study.

THE COSTS OF LEGAL FEES FOR A STEP PARENT ADOPTION LAWYER

Attorneys are like any profession. Their fees can range tremendously, and as will be shown below, by paying more you are not necessarily getting a better attorney. The highest price does not equal the highest quality legal services, just as the more expensive exotic sports car might look snazzy, but a Ford sedan may be more likely to get you where you want to go.

Assuming your step parent adoption is not contested by the absent parent, and you don't have rare complications, like the applicability of the Indian Child Welfare Act, you can expect to pay between $2,000-$5,000 to fully advise you, prepare and file all the required paperwork, interact with your adoption agency, seek the consent of the absent parent (and perhaps be persuasive to sign their consent if initially reluctant), set and appear at the final adoption hearing in which the adoption is granted.

If your case has the bad luck of having an absent parent who will not consent, or can't be found, legal fees can mount quickly. Litigation costs can be expensive, and sometimes uncertain as well, as it is not always known if a trial will be required, and if so, how long it will last.

Let's look at how to select a step parent adoption attorney, as there are some clear indicators about what your fees will be when all is said and done. And of course, we will look at how to judge their experience and qualifications, as you don't just want a fair price, but the best representation you can find.

HOW TO CHOOSE A STEP PARENT ADOPTION ATTORNEY

Let's cut through the baloney and talk about specific things you can do to find or eliminate attorney in your search.

The Attorney's Fees

There are some very simple things you can do to know what your legal fees will be for your entire case, or if it will be open-ended and you just cross your fingers.

1. Does the attorney charge hourly or a flat fee? Most attorneys in the family law field charge hourly, with the average hourly fee being $400. If they charge hourly, that means they can charge you for every call to/from you, or on your behalf to the agency, a court clerk, et cetera, as well as every letter read or written, not to mention the actual work of lawyering. That would be research and preparation of documents, briefs, and court appearances. So hourly fees can mount very, very quickly. For this reason, flat fees are preferred, as long as the fee agreement sets forth the attorney's actions for that flat fee clearly.
2. Beware a low retainer amount that is not capped. Many lawyers will entice you with a low retainer amount and tell you "It will likely be enough for your whole case if there is no opposition from the absent parent." And that may be true. But lawyers can be like contractors: They give you a price to remodel your kitchen, then when the work is done the final price is much higher. So if the lawyer tells you their initial retainer will almost surely cover everything if there are no major problems, like a non-consenting absent parent and a termination of parental rights action is required, then have them put that in writing. It is their retainer form and they can do what they want. There is no reason they can't put that statement in writing for you and clearly state they will charge you a flat fee of specified work.
3. Look for a retainer or fee agreement that is understandable. Many lawyers have retainers that are so long and complicated that you can't make heads or tails out of them. And if you do manage to understand it, don't be surprised if all that long complicated language is just protecting the lawyer against you, rather than what he or she is doing for you. Ask yourself, do you want to trust an attorney whose first action with you is ask you to sign a document that seems intended to not be read or understood? Look for an attorney who has a clearly understandable retainer or fee agreement, not to long as to be unreadable, and which clearly sets forth what they will do for you.
4. Many attorneys charge you "costs." Of course you will pay for the step parent investigation, discussed above, and your fingerprint fee. But what about all the attorney's costs: court filing fees, new birth certificate fee, mileage to court, postage, copies, et cetera. These fees can mount quickly. Some attorneys will include these cost in their fee, so they pay these costs, and not you.

Find the Best Qualified Adoption Attorney

Finding the most qualified attorney to do your step parent adoption is easier than you might think. First let's talk about what is not persuasive.

• Plaques on the wall and "trial lawyer" organizations. Most of these are simply paid-for memberships that have no real qualifications to obtain them. They are "bought credibility."
• Awards. There are some legitimate awards for sure, but most are simply Vanity Awards. Beware of most "Best Lawyers" lists.
• Where they went to law school. Graduating from Harvard or Yale often means you had a lot of money and did well in high school to have a high GPA. It has very little to do with how well you serve clients and practice law. To know that, look at their body of work as a lawyer, not as a law student.

So what should you look for? This is actually quite common sense.

• What is their experience in the narrow field you want expertise in: stepparent adoption. Are they an attorney that mainly does divorce and child custody, or specifically adoption law? These two areas of law are vastly different. So ask the attorney, and look at their website. Specific questions to ask might include: How many step parent adoptions do you do a year? How many years have you been doing them? How many contested adoption cases do they handle each year. This is a very complicates sub-speciality and it is where you need the most experience.
• Look at their reviews. And really read them. Don't just see if they have a 5.0 star average, or close to it. Reading the reviews will give you an idea exactly what the attorney did for the client, and how well. Or the opposite. Nothing is more important that how they did for the last 50 or 100 people with cases exactly like yours.
• Their consultation. Attorneys are busy and their time is valuable, so there is nothing wrong with charging you for an initial consultation. That said, there are also attorneys who will give you a free consultation. But whether it is paid for or free, you deserve a real consultation, not a mere Meet and Greet. Many attorneys just talk about stepparent adoption in vague terms and you leave the consultation knowing little more than you knew before you started. Their initial consultation was mainly to give you a feeling of confidence in them so you'd hire them, not truly explain stepparent adoption to know exactly what should happen and if there are any legal risks, and how they'd be handled. So look for an attorney where, when the consultation is done, you realize you learned a tremendous amount - maybe even some things you wished you didn't know about possible risks.
• Who is your lawyer? Make sure your consultation is with the attorney who will actually be your attorney for the case, the one you will work with day to day. Beware if the consultation is with one attorney, but the actual work will be done by an associate you have not met. If your case will be with an associate, fine, but your consultation should be with them so you can judge their skills and knowledge.

♦       ♦       ♦       ♦       ♦       ♦       ♦

We hope this information has been helpful to you and we wish you success in your step parent adoption. You are invited to learn more about our Stepparent Adoption Center attorney reviews, qualifications and experience and transparent flat legal fees.