Adoption Lawyer in Austin, Texas

The short answer

Most adoptions we handle are stepparent, grandparent and kinship adoptions. Family making official what is already true day to day.

An adoption usually has two legal parts. Ending the other parent’s rights where the law requires it, then the adoption itself.

It ends in a short hearing and a signed order. We prepare the paperwork so that day is a formality, not a fight.

The happiest paperwork in family law

Most of our adoption work is family adopting family. A stepparent making it official. Grandparents formalising the home a child already knows. A relative who has raised a child for years and wants the law to say so. We file these cases in Travis and Williamson counties.

Every adoption has two legal halves: ending the rights of a biological parent where that is required, and creating yours. Both have to be done precisely, because an adoption decree is permanent and Texas treats it that way.

The first half is where adoptions stall. In most cases the other parent’s rights have to end before a court will grant the adoption. There are exceptions. A stepparent adoption never touches the rights of your spouse, and where the other parent has died there is nothing left to end. Beyond that it comes down to one question: does the other parent agree?

Stepparent adoption

Stepparent adoption is the most common route we file, and the one Texas makes easiest. Your spouse, who is the child’s parent, keeps their rights and joins the petition alongside you. Only the child’s other parent is affected.

After that, three things can happen. Where the other parent has died, or was terminated in an earlier case, there is nothing left to end. You file for the adoption alone. Where they are living and sign a relinquishment, the case is largely paperwork and a short hearing. Where they will not sign, the termination is filed together with the adoption and one judge decides both. We will tell you at the first meeting which you are in.

Texas also lets the court waive the adoption evaluation in an uncontested stepparent case. It can do that only after reviewing the state’s child protective records and your criminal history. So it is a waiver the judge may grant, not an exemption you are entitled to, and courts differ on how readily they give it.

Grandparent and kinship adoption

Grandparents and other relatives raise children across Central Texas, sometimes for years, with no document that says so. Adoption is how that becomes permanent, and it is work we are glad to do.

Standing is the first question, and the rule changed on 1 September 2025. A suit asking only for adoption, and equally a termination filed together with an adoption, may now be filed by three sorts of person. A stepparent. An adult who, because the child was placed with them for adoption, has had actual possession and control of the child at some point in the 30 days before the petition is filed. An adult who has already adopted a sibling of the child, or who is that sibling’s foster parent and has petitioned to adopt them. Being the grandparent does not put you on that list by itself.

That does not close the door, it changes the route in. A relative who has had exclusive care, control and possession of the child for at least six months can establish standing that way. Exclusive is the word that matters: where a parent was also living in the home, or was still sharing the day-to-day decisions during those months, standing becomes much harder to establish. That six months has to end within 90 days of filing, so timing matters. Different rules apply where the Department of Family and Protective Services placed the child with you, where the period is twelve months rather than six. A grandparent can also bring a conservatorship suit where the proof supports one. Choosing the right route at the start is what avoids a dismissal later.

Ending the other parent’s rights

Usually, where the other parent is living and still a legal parent, their rights have to end before the adoption can be granted. There is an exception worth knowing about. Where the child is at least two years old and one parent’s rights have already been terminated, Texas allows the adoption to proceed on the remaining parent’s consent, without terminating that parent, if you have been the child’s managing conservator, or have had actual care, possession and control of the child for six months, or are the child’s former stepparent. A former stepparent has a similar route at one year. Whether it fits depends on the facts, and it is one of the first things worth checking. Where termination is needed, that does not mean a separate case first. The termination can be filed together with the adoption, and the judge then decides both at the same hearing. There are two ways rights end, and they are not close to equivalent.

Voluntary. The parent signs an affidavit of relinquishment. Texas is strict about the form: it cannot be signed until at least 48 hours after the child is born, it needs two witnesses, and it must be sworn. When can it be taken back? That depends on what the affidavit says and who it names. In the adoptions we handle it names you, and where it says nothing else it becomes irrevocable on the eleventh day after signing.

Involuntary. The court ends the rights over the parent’s objection. That requires clear and convincing evidence of a ground the statute lists, plus a separate finding that termination serves the child. It is a trial, not a formality, which is why we assess honestly whether the grounds are there before you spend anything.

A parent can also file to end their own rights. The court may order it where doing so is in the child’s best interest, but the word is may. It is a decision the judge makes, not a form a parent can file to walk away.

What the process looks like, start to finish

Filing. The petition is filed in the county where the child lives or where you live. For most of our clients that is Travis County, filed with the district clerk in Austin, or Williamson County, filed in Georgetown.

The evaluation. Unless the court waives it, an adoption evaluation is carried out. It means a home visit, interviews with the household, and background screening. It is a conversation, not an inspection to fear, and we prepare you for what it covers.

Criminal history. The court orders each person seeking to adopt to obtain their own record, normally through the Department of Public Safety. It has to reach the court before the hearing, and it is the step most likely to hold a case up. So we start it early.

Six months with you. The court cannot grant the adoption until the child has lived with you for six months. On request it can waive that where the waiver serves the child, and in stepparent cases it often will.

The post-placement report. Where an evaluation is carried out, its report goes to the court before the judge signs anything. You are entitled to read it first.

The hearing. Short, and usually the happiest half hour in the building. The decree can change the child’s name if you ask, and Texas issues a new birth certificate afterwards.

What affects the cost

We do not publish an adoption fee, because an honest one depends on which case you have. Three things move it more than anything else.

Whether the other parent consents. A signed relinquishment is the difference between a paperwork case and a contested trial, and it is the single biggest number on the page.

Whether the evaluation is waived. Where it is not, an outside evaluator carries it out and bills separately from us.

Whether the other parent can be found. Serving a missing parent adds a search, sometimes service by publication, and often an attorney appointed to represent them.

You get a quote after the first conversation, once we know which of those apply. Mediation is the one part of this practice with a flat published rate. Adoption is quoted before you commit, not after.