West Virginia Code
Article 22. Adoption
§48-22-801. Adoption of Adults

§48-22-801. Adoption of adults.
Any adult person who is a resident of West Virginia may petition the circuit court or any other court of record having jurisdiction of adoption proceedings for permission to adopt one who has reached the age of eighteen years or over, and, if desired, to change the name of such person. The consent of the person to be adopted shall be the only consent necessary. The order of adoption shall create the same relationship between the adopting parent or parents and the person adopted and the same rights of inheritance as in the case of an adopted minor child. If a change in name is desired, the adoption order shall so state.

Structure West Virginia Code

West Virginia Code

Chapter 48. Domestic Relations

Article 22. Adoption

§48-22-101. Applicability of Definitions

§48-22-102. Abandonment Defined

§48-22-103. Adoptive Parents, Adoptive Mother or Adoptive Father Defined

§48-22-104. Agency Defined

§48-22-105. Birth Father Defined

§48-22-106. Birth Mother Defined

§48-22-107. Birth Parents Defined

§48-22-108. Consent Defined

§48-22-109. Determined Father Defined

§48-22-110. Legal Father Defined

§48-22-111. Marital Child Defined

§48-22-112. Nonmarital Child Defined

§48-22-113. Outsider Father Defined

§48-22-114. Putative Father Defined

§48-22-115. Relinquishment Defined

§48-22-116. Stepparent Adoption Defined

§48-22-117. Unknown Father Defined

§48-22-201. Persons Who May Petition for Decree of Adoption

§48-22-301. Persons Whose Consent or Relinquishment Is Required; Exceptions

§48-22-302. Timing and Execution of Consent or Relinquishment

§48-22-303. Content of Consent or Relinquishment

§48-22-304. Consent or Relinquishment by Infants

§48-22-305. Revocation of Consent or Relinquishment for Adoption

§48-22-306. Conduct Presumptively Constituting Abandonment

§48-22-401. Delivery of Child for Adoption; Written Recital of Circumstances

§48-22-501. Filing of Petition for Adoption

§48-22-502. Petition and Appendix

§48-22-601. Who Shall Receive Notice

§48-22-602. How Notice Is to Be Served

§48-22-603. Notice to an Unknown Father

§48-22-701. Proceedings

§48-22-702. Recordation of Order; Fees; Disposition of Records; Names of Adopting Parents and Persons Previously Entitled to Parental Rights Not to Be Disclosed; Disclosure of Identifying and Nonidentifying Information; Certificate for State Registra...

§48-22-703. Effect of Order as to Relations of Parents and Child and as to Rights of Inheritance; Intestacy of Adopted Child

§48-22-704. Finality of Order; Challenges to Order of Adoption

§48-22-801. Adoption of Adults

§48-22-802. Contracts Limiting or Restraining Adoptions

§48-22-901. Recognition of Foreign Adoption Decree

§48-22-902. Filing of Petition for Recognition of Foreign Adoption Decree

§48-22-903. Proceedings for Recognition of Foreign Adoption Decree