More Adoption Legal Costs
By The Staff at AGoHA, 6/13/09
Written by Dewey Crepeau, Executive Director and Adoption Attorney of nearly 30 years
While most people understand that adoption laws vary from state by state, you might assume that adoption is pretty much the same within the same state. But we have found that procedures vary greatly even within a state. If the state requires a court proceeding as part of the adoption process a judge’s position on adoption has to be considered. What one judge is fine with may not sit well with another judge. Many courts have local rules, some written, some unwritten, that govern how adoptions take place. These rules can vary from court to court or judge to judge.
Of course, there is simple old “supply and demand.” Part of our service is to help adoptive parents find the attorney to assist in their adoption. Sometimes I will personally know an attorney that I can recommend. Other times I can get either a personal recommendation from another lawyer or I know how to find an experienced adoption attorney in that part of the state. But sometimes we have to simply start looking for an attorney with not a lot to go on as to who is available and experienced. It helps when the “cold call” to an attorney’s office is made by another attorney (like me) on your behalf. I try to balance expertise with cost in making a recommendation to you. But sometimes there is little or no choice in finding an experienced adoption attorney to assist you.
For example, we recently had a case where we had one of the highest legal fees ever paid by one of our families for an uncontested adoption. This was in the same state where the year before we had one of the lower fees charged by an adoption attorney for a similar type of adoption. So why did that happen? The difference was that there was simply no other attorney available in that part of the state with the necessary experience to handle the adoption. Our family had to pay their fees (and accept their practices and procedures in adoption cases) or walk away from the adoption.
