Customer Reviews

Do Your Own California Adoption: Nolo's Guide for Stepparents and Domestic Partners

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is wonderful for anyone who wants to adopt their spouse's child and has the consent of the other bio-parent (or other stipulation such as the death of the bio-parent, etc.). It not only provides needed forms, but also has word-by-word examples of the documents you will need to type yourself (for me, that was actually fun!) Additionally, if you live in Los Angeles as I did during the process, it gives you special instructions for filing in L.A. county - very helpful! I had to pay only a $700 assessment fee and 2 or 3 small filing fees and the whole process, from filing the initial petition to the final hearing (which is especially enjoyable) was completed in under 4 months! And the experience brought me even closer to our 5 year old little girl as well as my wife! A lawyer quoted me legal fees of "$2,500 to $3,000, not including filing and assessment fees" before I found this book. You will not only save money, but come away with an amazing sense of accomplishment and a renewed appreciation for your family. I highly recommend this book!

This book and all of it's knowledge were better than the "Helpers" at the Pro Per in our family court. They didn't even have on of the forms I needed and they referred me to this book. I thankfully already had it. After reading it I was well prepared for all of the paper work that I needed for my case worker.
The CD was perfect too. I have a Mac and it worked great! Good luck to everyone else. I would bu it again and recommend it to everyone.

I purchased this book to help file forms on a stepparent adoption. I submitted the form that was included on the CD "Petition to Terminate Parental Rights of the Alleged Father". To my dismay, they told me that I was using an "outdated" template, as the Civil Code 7409(a) that was referenced was repealed 10 years ago. I sought help from an attorney who told me that this is now under Family Code Section 7611. I do not trust the forms now, as I fear there may be other mistakes that I do not know of, as I am not an attorney.

I emailed Nolo to see if they had any updated version of this form, but did not get a reply.

Trust me, save yourself time, money and frustration by getting proper legal advice from a family law attorney.

DO NOT buy this book, or you may be embarrassed when you try to file your paperwork and it is marred with incorrect entries.

I have read this book and it gives great instructions on how to do an adoption yourself. I can't wait to get started!

This book has all the info we need to complete the adoption. This book was recomended to us by our local law library.