A 62 yrs old hindu bachelor wants to adopt or legal guardian of a 22 yrs muslim girl. What is the procedure?

Question

He has been taking care of her from past 9 yrs, as she is from a very poor family. It was like as if he had adopted her. She is also treating him as father. Her biological mother is still alive and married to another person, living a separate family. Please let me know whether he can adopt or become a legal guardian of her. If yes, what is the process?

Answer 1

Well, ummm... wouldn't she be legally an adult anyway?

Depends on the country I guess, but as a legal adult she is free to make any associations she wants. When you are of age you can consent yourself to become legally adopted, no permission would be required from her parents. (At least in the USA)

Edit- Yes, you can adopt an adult in most states in the USA, if you live in one of those that don't allow it you will have to establish residency in a state that does.

States that do not allow most adult adoptions include:

# Alabama only allows adults over the age of 18 who are permanently disabled or mentally retarded to be adopted.

# Arizona only allows people under the age of 21 to be adopted.

# Michigan,

# Nebraska

# Ohio only allows permanently disabled, mentally retarded persons, or adults who have established a relationship with the adoptive parent(s) through foster care or a step-parent relationship

In every other state it is perfectly legal. Advise your friend to see a lawyer.

Answer 2

I adopted in India (and lived there for a number of years) and the fact of the matter is that once someone is an adult there is no point in them being adopted.  Therefore, there is no way that you could adopt a 22 year old, be it through a religious adoption (which I know they do in India if you are Hindu or Muslim) or through a civil adoption.

At those ages they call it "marriage".

Answer 3

In the US you cannot legally adopt an adult. You can adopt a child age 17 or younger only. He can write out a will to leave her stuff though!

Answer 4

at 22, shes an adult and cant be adopted. If she already thinks of you as her father then that wont change if you adopted her anyway.

Answer 5

This is a very difficult question to answer. I say this because Indian laws are very specific to your background. So, are you talking about a hindu bachelor living in the US, who wants to adopt a muslim girl living in India for purposes of immigration? Are you talking about a legal guardianship because she's been abandoned and muslim women in India require guardianship to do most things, even to get married? If it's for purposes of willing her an inheritance, then you definitely need to pursue adoption, not legal guardianship.  There is actually a Yahoo Answers India site. Perhaps you should post on there instead. They will probably have better responses for you.

Good Luck!

Answer 6

The laws in India may be very different from the laws here in the United States.  It would be best if he contacted an attorney who specializes in family law, in his hometown.