[pedinp2b]

We recently completed a recognition of foreign adoption so that our daughter could have a legal name change and receive an Ohio birth certificate.
If I am not being to forward, how much expense did others incur for their readoption? We really felt that ours was very steep. Especially considering that the adoption was complete in Guatemala. I gave the lawyer all the paperwork needed. All he needed to do was file it with the probate court. He quoted us one price, then raised it, and then sent us a bill for more money once it was complete. All things considered, it ended up being about 1400!
YIKES!!
Does anyone else think that this is outrageous, or is it the going rate?
We just had no idea that we would have to fork out that much MORE money to finalize things!

Teri
mom to 4 bio boys and precious baby girl Cenah Celeste. Home forever September 27, 2006.

[tooskis]

We're in California and we didn't need a lawyer. Our agency had us pay $500 which covered a post placement SW visit and compiling all the paperwork. We then incurred just a minor court-related fee when we filed the paperwork. Does your state require that a lawyer handle the filing? I think $1400 is outrageous! What a bummer!

[pjkay720]

When we brought our son Dante home in 2005 I had called attorneys and was quoted $1000, but we also had to pay for any fees the court charged to file the paperwork. It turned out my husbands job offers a benefit where we pay like $2.46 a week to have an attorney we can use. It's great. So we got off with having to pay for the attorney, but we still had to pay for court fees.

[BarbnJeff]

We completed ours a couple weeks ago. We are in PA and our attorney charged $575 + a court filing fee of $110. I thought it was reasonable so we didn't have to worry about anything, but next time I might look into doing it on my own.

[dspakowsky]

Another cost is changing the Certificate of Citizenship - it's $220 (last I heard). That's a lot!

We didn't have to re-adopt. But, I've heard price ranges from $95 - $2000 depending on where you live.

[purplecat]

It is a lot but, it is the best money I have spent yet!!!

[tybeemuffin]

I'm in GA and it is very hard to readopt without hiring an attorney. I was told by workers at the courthouse that unless I wanted to go to the law library and research adoption law. They wouldn't even give me instructions or a list of forms to fill out. They said that they aren't lawyers and it is illegal for them to give out legal advance, so I was on my own.

Anyway, made numerous calls around town and lawyers expenses I was quoted went up to $2200. The cheapest I could find by far was $1225, which covers everything (court costs, copies, etc). Most lawyers were close to $2000.

BTW- That was my DD's Christmas gift from my parents. Because she came home on an IR3, I wasn't in a big rush to do it. Plus GA recognizes foreign adoptions, but I wanted to do it anyway in case we moved to a different state at some point. But now that my folks are paying, I have it all filed and my hearing date is the end of February.

[mommytoEli]

we paid 500 for 2 post placement reports to our homestudy agency, and we filed the petition ourselves...I think it cost 20ish dollars and the paperwork is simple. We are waiting for our court date.

[DD Amasa]

I'm in CT and don't need a lawyer. It will end up costing at most $500.

[p00lbys]

We just completed re-adoption today!!!! We paid $15.00 for the paperwork we had to fill out and $10.00 for the court fees. Our agency said we had filled our so much paperwork already that we really didn't need to hire a lawyer! They were right! We live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Good Luck!

[Mary Mulcahy]

I live in Illinois and last March (2006) did Ricco's readoption and it was about 1,200. I had an extra fee for a post placement visit since I need an additional one since I waited too long after Ricco was home (lack of energy and $). It was worth the money for the paperwork but believe it or not I still don't have my Illinois birth certificate for Ricco and that is from the final order dated June of 2006. And you think Guatemala is bad.

I still need to change the COC. Bummer, I will wait for my income tax refund.
Mary

[bmd925]

I live in NY..$550 for post placement, $900 for the lawyer, $700 for private investigator, and God knows what else...and to top it all off...my SW never filled out the post placement paper work in time so I had to re-do child abuse clearance, fingerprints...and the real kicker...I still can not claim my tax credit because the adoption has not been finalized!!! My son cam home in July 2005!!! so I'm out another $11,000 or so year #2

I'm a bit frustrated..to say the least !!!!!

[keithandkristy]

Our daughter came home in August of 2005 and we re-adopted in March of 2006. Our total cost was around $875 (cheapest I could find). Now, it's time to do it for the twins...wondering if it will be double?!?!?! If you ask me, it's ridiculous. It's such a simple process and we were literally at the court house for 10 minutes!!!!

[sakelley]

Jumping over from the China Board. Did your county require you to have an attorney to complete the readoption? We live in Medina County and they don't require an attorney. We only paid $150 for the readoption and $16.50 for the Ohio birth certificate.

[CHARLIECAT]

I am from MN and I did it my self at the court house. I only paid $245 for the filing fee.
It was very easy and I received the papers back in 7days!

Call your courthouse and see exactly what needs to be done maybe you can do it yourself.