As a rule, you cannot adopt an adult in the Netherlands. Dutch law requires the person to be a minor on the day the adoption request is filed, but courts have occasionally set that requirement aside in very exceptional cases, relying on the right to family life in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The minority requirement is in Article 1:228(1)(a) of the Dutch Civil Code (Burgerlijk Wetboek, BW). The statute itself contains no exception for adults. Any exception comes from case law, and it is applied with great restraint.
This page deals with the adoption of an adult. For the adoption of a minor, including the phase-out of intercountry adoption, see adoption law in the Netherlands.
Is there a right to adopt an adult?
No. There is no entitlement and no separate procedure for adult adoption under Book 1 of the Dutch Civil Code. A request only stands a chance on strong facts, and the outcome is never certain.
When have courts set the age requirement aside?
Courts have done so where refusing the adoption would be an unjustified interference with family life under Article 8 ECHR. The decisions that went in the applicant’s favour share a recognisable pattern.
- The adopter raised the person from a young age as their own child, so family life plainly exists.
- There is no other legal route to recognise the relationship. Acknowledgement is not available, and no involved legal parent would be displaced, or that parent has died or plays no role.
- Everyone involved agrees, including the adult concerned.
- There is a concrete reason why legal recognition matters now, not just in the abstract.
One example is a decision of the District Court of Oost-Brabant of 1 November 2023 (ECLI:NL:RBOBR:2023:5557). A former stepfather adopted a 27-year-old man who had lived in his household from the age of two. The court accepted that the man’s psychological distress at remaining legally tied to a father he felt rejected by amounted to very exceptional circumstances. It therefore set the minority requirement aside.
Where a request fails, one of these elements is usually missing: the relationship began in adulthood, a legal parent objects, or simpler means were available.
Which conditions still apply?
The ordinary adoption conditions in Articles 1:227 and 1:228 BW remain the yardstick. A court considering an adult adoption still tests the request against their substance.
- The adopter must be at least eighteen years older than the person adopted (Article 1:228(1)(c) BW).
- The person adopted may not be a grandchild of the adopter (Article 1:228(1)(b) BW).
- The adoption must be in the manifest interest of the person adopted (Article 1:227(3) BW).
- It must be established, now and for the future, that the person has nothing further to expect from their parent or parents in their capacity as parent (Article 1:227(3) BW).
- The adopter must have cared for and raised the person for at least one year (Article 1:228(1)(f) BW).
- Two adopters together, or a step-parent adopting the child of their partner, must in principle have lived together for at least three consecutive years immediately before the request (Article 1:227(2) BW).
The request is made to the district court by petition. A lawyer is mandatory. The court hears the person to be adopted and, where they are alive, the legal parents.
Which alternatives are often the better answer?
Three routes achieve part of what adoption achieves, with far less difficulty.
Acknowledgement (erkenning)
Acknowledgement under Article 1:204 BW is also possible in respect of an adult. It creates a full legal family relationship, including inheritance rights. It is only possible where the person does not already have two legal parents (Article 1:204(1)(e) BW). A child aged twelve or older must give prior written consent (Article 1:204(1)(d) BW), so an adult’s own written consent is always required. Where acknowledgement is available, it is almost always the better route.
Change of surname
A change of surname by royal decree, under the rules on changes of surname, allows an adult to take the surname of the person who raised them. It gives outward recognition without changing legal parentage.
A will
A will settles the inheritance question directly. Adoption is sometimes pursued out of concern about succession. A will, combined with a clear view of the inheritance tax rates for non-relatives, is then often the more proportionate answer. Those rates are set annually.
What does adoption change, and what does it not change?
Adoption creates a family-law relationship between the adopter and the person adopted, and with the adopter’s relatives (Article 1:229(1) BW). At the same time, the relationship with the original parents and their relatives ends (Article 1:229(2) BW).
There is one important exception. If the spouse, registered partner or other life partner of a parent adopts, the relationship with that parent remains in place (Article 1:229(3) BW). The person adopted becomes a statutory heir of the adopter and, in principle, ceases to be an heir of any original parent with whom the relationship ends. The surname may be changed at the same time.
Does adoption give Dutch nationality?
No, not for an adult. The provisions of the Netherlands Nationality Act (Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap) under which adoption leads to Dutch nationality apply to minors only. An adult adoption is therefore not a route to Dutch nationality.
What if the person is still a minor?
Then the ordinary route applies, and the conditions of Articles 1:227 and 1:228 BW apply directly. Step-parent adoption and adoption by a foster parent are both established procedures.
The practical question is usually timing. The request must be filed before the eighteenth birthday. Consents, documents and, where required, the involvement of the Child Care and Protection Board (Raad voor de Kinderbescherming) take time, so start well before that date.
How does the procedure work, and what does it cost?
An adoption request is made by petition to the district court and must be drawn up and filed by a lawyer. Court fees (griffierecht) are payable, at rates revised annually. The court sets a hearing. In an adult adoption it will want to hear both the applicant and the person to be adopted, because their own position carries decisive weight.
The documents accompanying the petition mainly establish the history. Think of extracts from the civil status records for everyone involved, evidence of the period during which the applicant cared for the person, written consents and, where a living legal parent does not consent, an explanation of their position. Documents from abroad will need legalisation or an apostille, and that step often takes longer than applicants expect.
If the request is granted, the adoption takes effect once the decision has become final, and it is recorded in the civil status records. If it is refused, an appeal to the court of appeal must be lodged by a lawyer within three months of the decision.
What should you check as the adopting parent?
The court tests the request against Articles 1:227 and 1:228 BW and Article 8 ECHR, so check first whether adoption is the right instrument at all.
- Did you raise the person from a young age, and can you document that period?
- Are you at least eighteen years older than the person to be adopted?
- Is acknowledgement under Article 1:204 BW available instead, because the person has only one legal parent?
- Do the adult and, where alive, the legal parents consent in writing?
- What concrete reason makes legal recognition necessary now?
What should you check as an original parent?
Adoption ends your legal relationship with the adult and your mutual inheritance rights under Article 1:229(2) BW. The court hears you where you are alive.
- Do you consent, or do you want to object at the hearing?
- Did you and the adult live together as a family, and can you show that?
- Would the adoption change inheritance plans or a will you have made?
- If the request is granted, can you appeal within three months of the decision?
What can we do for you with an adult adoption?
Our family lawyers advise adopters, adults and original parents.
- We assess whether adoption, acknowledgement, a change of surname or a will best achieves your goal.
- We collect the civil status extracts, consents and evidence of the care period, including apostilles for foreign documents.
- We draft the petition and file it with the district court, as a lawyer is mandatory.
- We present the Article 8 ECHR argument at the hearing.
- We lodge an appeal with the court of appeal within the three-month deadline.
Summary
- Dutch law only allows the adoption of a minor (Article 1:228(1)(a) BW); an adult adoption is possible only in very exceptional cases under Article 8 ECHR.
- Successful cases involve a parent-child relationship formed in childhood, no alternative route, full consent and a concrete present need.
- Acknowledgement, a change of surname or a will often achieves the real goal more simply.
- Adoption does not give an adult Dutch nationality.
- A lawyer is mandatory; an appeal must be lodged within three months.
Frequently asked questions
Can I adopt my adult stepchild?
Not as of right. If you raised your stepchild from a young age, the other legal parent is out of the picture or agrees, and there is no alternative route, a request can be made. Courts have granted such requests in comparable cases. If the relationship began when your stepchild was already grown up, a request is very unlikely to succeed.
Does the adult have to agree?
Yes. An adoption cannot be imposed on an adult. Their own consent is central to the assessment.
What if one of the original parents objects?
An objection by a legal parent is a serious obstacle, though not always decisive. Under Article 1:228(2) BW the court may disregard an objection in defined circumstances. Examples are where the child and the parent never or hardly lived together as a family, or where the parent abused their authority or grossly neglected the child’s care. How much weight the objection carries depends on the facts.
Is there an upper age limit for the person being adopted?
The statute sets no upper limit, because it does not provide for adult adoption at all. In practice the age of the person mainly indicates how long ago the family relationship was formed. That is what the court is really assessing.
How long does the procedure take?
That depends on the court and the case. It takes longer where documents have to come from abroad or where a legal parent contests the request. Building the file properly beforehand shortens the procedure more than anything you can do once it is under way.
