Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

Ark. Code Ann. § 9-9-204

Who may adopt

Applied in 11 court decisions — leading case Matter of Adoption of Perkins/Pollnow (1989)

Most recently applied in 2021 Ark. App. 136 - In Re Adoption of J.A. & R.A. (March 2021)

Acts 1977, No. 735, § 4; 1979, No. 599, § 1; A.S.A. 1947, § 56-204.

How often courts cite this section

1988199020002010202130
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

The following individuals may adopt:

(1) A husband and wife together although one (1) or both are minors;

(2) An unmarried adult;

(3) The unmarried father or mother of the individual to be adopted;

(4) A married individual without the other spouse joining as a petitioner, if the individual to be adopted is not his or her spouse; and if: The other spouse is a parent of the individual to be adopted and consents to the adoption;

(5) The petitioner and the other spouse are legally separated; or

(6) The failure of the other spouse to join in the petition or to consent to the adoption is excused by the court by reason of prolonged unexplained absence, unavailability, incapacity, or circumstances constituting an unreasonable withholding of consent.

Current official text: Arkansas General Assembly. Digitized from the UniCourt Code Improvement Commission public-domain capture. Reproduced from public-domain Arkansas statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.