Effect of death of potential adoptive parent · as in force on May 31, 2026
§ 115-e. Effect of death of potential adoptive parent. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, when a petition for adoption by two persons has been duly filed, and one of the petitioners dies before the adoption is complete, it shall be treated as a change of circumstance. This change may be reviewed to assure that the adoption is in the best interest of the child. The death of one of the adoptive parents shall not, by itself, invalidate a certification nor shall the death of one of the adoptive parents cause a new petition for adoption to be filed. The deceased adoptive parent shall be considered one of the legal parents, unless the surviving adoptive parent requests otherwise.
When 2 people have filed an adoption petition and 1 petitioner dies before completion, the court treats the death as a changed circumstance and may review whether adoption remains in the child’s best interests. The death alone does not invalidate certification or require a new petition, and the deceased petitioner remains a legal parent unless the survivor asks otherwise. ★
Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.
This provision appears in Volume 1 — The Court Clerk in Plain English; Volume 6 — The Court Clerk: Uniform Rules and Everything Else; Volume 4 — Your Career: Family & Related Law in Plain English.