State law determines whether an individual is eligible to be an adoptee or an adoption child.
Children may be adopted in diverse circumstances, where their natural parents are dead, unknown or even living. A child abandoned by his natural parents can also be adopted. A child can be available for adoption even where a legal guardian has been appointed for him.
Under the adoption law of many states the adoptee must be a minor child. However, some states or jurisdictions expressly permit the adoption of adults.
Emotional bond may cause an adoptive parent to adopt another adult as own child. In most cases adult adoption is used as a device to facilitate inheritance in favor of the adoptee. Generally, in the absence of such adoption, the adult adoptee would not have been entitled to step into the shoes of the adoptive parent as heir to succeed to his properties.
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