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Domestic Relations Law § 115-e · Title 3. Private-placement Adoption

Effect of death of potential adoptive parent

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — Law content up to date as of August 7, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)

§ 115-e. Effect of death of potential adoptive parent. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, when a petition for adoption by two persons has been duly filed, and one of the petitioners dies before the adoption is complete, it shall be treated as a change of circumstance. This change may be reviewed to assure that the adoption is in the best interest of the child. The death of one of the adoptive parents shall not, by itself, invalidate a certification nor shall the death of one of the adoptive parents cause a new petition for adoption to be filed. The deceased adoptive parent shall be considered one of the legal parents, unless the surviving adoptive parent requests otherwise.

Source of truth

Edition
Law content up to date as of August 7, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
Official file
https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/DOM115-E
Text hash
sha256 46fde9600213d4a15f1fa72416841ad1a219fe301a98c032d7543a7524612a8f
Composed by
gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order

Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.