A. Any person may adopt his spouse's child in accordance with the provisions of the Adoption Act.

B. When the adoptee has lived with his stepparent for at least one year following the stepparent's marriage to the custodial parent:

(1) placement shall not be required pursuant to Section 32A-5-12 NMSA 1978;

(2) a pre-placement study or post-placement report shall not be required unless ordered by the court;

(3) when the stepparent and the custodial parent have been married for less than two years, counseling shall be required for the stepparent and the custodial parent;

(4) the noncustodial parent shall receive counseling unless counseling is waived;

(5) the adoptee, if ten years of age or older, shall receive counseling;

(6) a criminal records check shall be conducted on a stepparent pursuant to the provisions of Section 32A-5-14 NMSA 1978;

(7) a report of fees and charges shall not be prepared, unless ordered by the court pursuant to Section 32A-5-34 NMSA 1978;

(8) the court may waive the ninety-day period between the filing of the petition for adoption and issuance of the decree of adoption; and

(9) when adopted, the adoptee shall take the name designated in the adoption petition, so long as the petitioner's spouse and the adoptee, if ten years of age or older, consent to the name.

C. When an adoptee has not lived with the stepparent for more than one year following the stepparent's marriage to the custodial parent, the adoption shall proceed as an independent adoption.

History: 1978 Comp., § 32A-5-32, enacted by Laws 1993, ch. 77, § 159; 1995, ch. 206, § 40.

The 1995 amendment, effective July 1, 1995, in Subsection B, rewrote Paragraphs (1) and (2), added Paragraphs (3) through (6), redesignated former Paragraphs (3) through (5) as Paragraphs (7) through (9), and substituted "32A-5-34" for "32-5-34" in Paragraph (7) and "ten years of age or older" for "older than ten years of age" in Paragraph (9).

One-year residency requirement. — The one-year residency provision for stepparent adoptions is not jurisdictional in nature; it is a statutory prerequisite to stepparent adoption and, therefore, the father could not challenge the adoption decree on the basis that the court lacked jurisdiction because the one-year residency requirement was not met. In re Adoption of Webber, 1993-NMCA-099, 116 N.M. 47, 859 P.2d 1074 (Ct. App. 1993).