Maine Supreme Court Upholds Adoption of Adult Partner

Last week, in a long-running inheritance dispute, the Maine Supreme Court ruled that an adult adoption of a same-sex partner was legitimate.  The dispute mostly surrounded a very large trust set up by one of the founders of IBM for the benefit of his descendants and whether the adoptee-partner was a descendant who could gain a share of the substantial trust.  The Court said she was indeed part of the trust beneficiary class.

Read the opinion: Adoptioon of Patricia S, (Maine Sup. Ct. July 23, 2009)

For more on the topic, see Syracuse Law Prof Terry Turnipseed's article on the topic.  The article looks at multiple angles on the issue of adult adoptions of spouses or romantic partners, including the distinct possibility that in about half of the states, the adoptor could be prosecuted for incest resulting in serious jail time (which has occurred on many occasions in many states in the past) and whether Lawrence now protects this behavior.