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You will have to check with your local county laws to make sure that you do not need a lawyer. You are going to need your daughter's birth certificate, as well as yours and the man who you wish to adopt her. You will need your marriage certificate from you and her biological father as well as the divorce decree and custody papers.
You will also need your current marriage certificate.
You are going to need the biological father's permission before an adoption can occur. Having him sign his parental rights away is the fastest and cheapest way to have an adoption done. If he refuses to sign you can still petition to the courts for the adoption, but you will have to prove him as an unfit father. If you do not know where the biological father is you will have to prove to the court that you have done your best to locate him, and then pay for a public notice to be run for about a month, which usually runs a few hundred dollars because of how long it has to run, and how long the notice itself usually is.
Most lawyers give a free initial consultation, you can make an appointment with one and discuss your case, as well as what you will need to meet local law requirements without having to pay for the conversation or being obligated to hire the lawyer. We spoke to several lawyers before hiring one. While she turned out to be a pain to deal with, she did get the job done, and that is what is important! We ended up getting a new credit card and putting most of the adoption related expenses on there and paid it off over time, until we had enough money saved up to just pay the balance off completely. Having the peace of mind of a lawyer was definitely worth the money for us!
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