2016 Code of Alabama
Title 26 - INFANTS AND INCOMPETENTS.
Chapter 10A - ALABAMA ADOPTION CODE.
Section 26-10A-7 - Persons whose consents or relinquishment are required.

Section 26-10A-7Persons whose consents or relinquishment are required.

(a) Consent to the petitioner's adoption or relinquishment for adoption to the Department of Human Resources or a licensed child placing agency shall be required of the following:

(1) The adoptee, if 14 years of age or older, except where the court finds that the adoptee does not have the mental capacity to give consent;

(2) The adoptee's mother;

(3) The adoptee's presumed father, regardless of paternity, if:

a. He and the adoptee's mother are or have been married to each other and the adoptee was born during the marriage, or within 300 days after the marriage was terminated by death, annulment, declaration of invalidity, or divorce, or after a decree of separation was entered by a court; or

b. Before the adoptee's birth, he and the adoptee's mother have attempted to marry each other by a marriage solemnized in apparent compliance with law, although the attempted marriage is or could be declared invalid, and,

1. If the attempted marriage could be declared invalid only by a court, the adoptee was born during the attempted marriage, or within 300 days after its termination by death, annulment, declaration of invalidity, or divorce; or

2. If the attempted marriage is invalid without a court order, the adoptee was born within 300 days after the termination of cohabitation; or

c. After the adoptee's birth, he and the adoptee's mother have married, or attempted to marry each other by a marriage solemnized in apparent compliance with law, although the attempted marriage is or could be declared invalid, and

1. With his knowledge or consent, he was named as the adoptee's father on the adoptee's birth certificate; or

2. He is obligated to support the adoptee pursuant to a written voluntary promise or agreement or by court order; or

d. He received the adoptee into his home and openly held out the adoptee as his own child;

(4) The agency to which the adoptee has been relinquished or which holds permanent custody and which has placed the adoptee for adoption, except that the court may grant the adoption without the consent of the agency if the adoption is in the best interests of the adoptee and there is a finding that the agency has unreasonably withheld its consent; and

(5) The putative father if made known by the mother or is otherwise made known to the court provided he complies with Section 26-10C-1 and he responds within 30 days to the notice he receives under Section 26-10A-17(a)(10).

(b) A petition to adopt an adult may be granted only if written consent to adopt has been executed by the adult seeking to adopt and his or her spouse or by the guardian or conservator of the adult sought to be adopted pursuant to the requirements of Sections 26-10A-6 and 26-10A-11.

(Acts 1990, No. 90-554, p. 912, §7; Act 98-101, p. 118, §1; Act 2002-417, p. 1061, §1.)