Understanding Adoption Types and Legal Kinship Requirements

Types of Adoption

There are two primary types of adoption: Adoptive Legitimation and Simple Adoption.

Requirements for Adopters

• Applicants must be over 25 years old, regardless of marital status, with a minimum 15-year age difference from the adoptee.
• The guardian is accountable to the court, and the judge must approve all financial accounts.
• Adoption is generally individual; however, spouses married for at least one year may adopt jointly.

Requirements for the Adoptee

• Any child or adolescent may be adopted. Those over 13 years of age must provide their consent.
• If the child is under parental authority (patria potestas), the biological parents must express their will.
• Biological parents who consent to the adoption may have their parental authority suspended in favor of the adopter.

Consequences of Simple Adoption

1. The adoptee maintains legal ties to their biological family.
2. There is a mutual obligation of respect between the adopter and the adoptee.
3. Adopters have a legal obligation to provide food and support to the adoptee.

Legitimation by Adoption

Requirements for adoptive parents: Spouses over 25 years old with a 15-year age difference from the adoptee, provided the child has been under their care for at least one year and the couple has been married for at least four years. This applies to relationships including grandfather-grandson, parent-child, siblings, brothers-in-law, and daughters-in-law.

Family Relationships and Kinship

Types of Relationships

• Affinity: The relationship established through marriage, including in-laws and relatives by marriage.
• Consanguinity (Blood Ties): Links based on shared ancestry, categorized as simple (one common parent) or complex (two common parents).

Affiliation

Affiliation is the legal bond linking a parent and child, establishing reciprocal rights and obligations. Note that general kinship does not necessarily imply a legal bond or reciprocal obligations.

Types of Affiliation

• Legitimate: A child born within a marriage and recognized by both parents.
• Legitimation by Adoption: A judicial process declaring a child legitimate.
• Natural: Children born in concubinage, acknowledged by both parents, one parent, or not recognized by either.