Title 18-C Maine Adoption: Understanding the Probate Code

If you have been researching adoption in Maine and found references to both "Title 18-A" and "Title 18-C," you have stumbled across one of the most significant shifts in Maine adoption law in decades. On September 1, 2019, Maine replaced its aging probate code with a modernized framework — the Maine Uniform Probate Code, codified as Title 18-C of the Maine Revised Statutes. This change affected nearly every aspect of how adoption is filed, approved, and finalized in the state. Anyone navigating Maine adoption in 2025 or later is operating under Title 18-C, and understanding what that means is foundational to getting the process right.

What Title 18-C Is

Title 18-C is Maine's probate code — the body of state law governing estates, guardianship, parentage, and adoption. The "C" distinguishes it from the old Title 18-A (which it replaced in 2019) and the earlier Title 18. The adoption provisions are located specifically in Article 9 of Title 18-C, which is divided into four parts:

• Part 1: General Provisions — Defines the scope of Probate Court jurisdiction and the legal rights of adopted persons. Under Section 9-103, Maine Probate Courts have exclusive jurisdiction over adoption petitions (with some exceptions for DHHS-involved cases in District Court). Section 9-105 establishes that an adopted person inherits from adoptive parents exactly as a biological child would — a clean, permanent severing and re-creation of legal family ties.
• Part 2: Determination of Parentage and Termination of Parental Rights — Covers how parentage is established and the legal process for severing biological parental rights voluntarily or involuntarily. This part governs consent, relinquishment, and voluntary surrender to an agency.
• Part 3: Adoption Procedures — The core operational section. This is where petition requirements, home study mandates, background check requirements, the probationary placement period, and the standards for the final decree are all defined.
• Part 4: Adoption Assistance Program — Provides the statutory basis for financial support for children with special needs adopted from the foster care system. This section authorizes the daily rate structure and MaineCare eligibility continuation.

Key Sections Every Maine Adoptive Family Should Know

Section 9-202: Consent timing. This is the 72-hour post-birth rule and the 5-working-day revocation window that govern infant adoption in Maine. No consent is valid until 72 hours after birth, and any consent can be revoked within 5 working days of execution.

Section 9-302: Consent requirements. Lists every party whose written consent is required before an adoption petition can be granted. Includes the child (if 12 or older), each living parent, the custodial agency or guardian, and putative parents who have responded to notification.

Section 9-304: The adoption study (home study). Mandates that a home study be completed for all adoptions, specifies who is authorized to conduct one (only DHHS or a licensed child-placing agency), and requires that the study be submitted to the court within 60 days of the petition being filed. Background check requirements are also specified here — fingerprinting for FBI and Maine Criminal Justice Information System checks, plus a check of the child abuse and neglect registry.

Section 9-306: Authorized disbursements. Lists the categories of expenses that adoptive parents may legally pay in connection with an adoption. These include birth parent medical expenses, counseling, reasonable living expenses, legal fees, and home study costs. Payments outside these categories — particularly large gifts or payments that could be construed as "baby buying" — can result in the court refusing to grant the adoption decree.

Section 9-308: The final decree. Sets out what the court must review before granting adoption: all consents and TPR orders, the completed adoption study, a full accounting of disbursements, and verification that background checks are complete. The court must also make "best interest of the child" findings covering the child's emotional ties to the petitioners, the petitioners' capacity to care for the child, and the child's adjustment.

Section 9-401: Adoption assistance. Establishes that children with special needs who are in DHHS custody or with a licensed non-profit agency are eligible for ongoing financial and medical support. Eligibility includes children age 5 or older, sibling groups, children with disabilities, and children with high-risk backgrounds.

What Changed from Title 18-A

Before 2019, Maine adoption was governed by Title 18-A. The shift to Title 18-C was not just a renumbering — it was a substantive modernization. The key changes that matter practically for adoptive families:

Streamlined jurisdiction clarification. The new code more clearly delineates when Probate Court handles adoption versus when District Court is involved (primarily in DHHS child protection cases). Under the old code, this jurisdictional split was less clearly defined, leading to filings in the wrong court.

Updated consent protections. The 72-hour post-birth rule and the 5-day revocation window were codified more explicitly in Title 18-C, incorporating principles from the Uniform Adoption Act.

Modernized home study requirements. Title 18-C updated the physical home requirements and explicitly required updated background checks and fingerprinting, bringing Maine in line with current federal guidelines.

Integration with the Maine Parentage Act. Title 18-C works in conjunction with the Maine Parentage Act (Title 19-A, enacted 2016), which established new frameworks for legal parentage including "de facto parent" status and confirmatory adoption for LGBTQ+ families. The 2019 Title 18-C adoption provisions reference and rely on the Parentage Act's definitions.

Probate Court vs. District Court: The Split Jurisdiction

One of the most practically important aspects of the Title 18-C framework is understanding which court handles what. Many families file in the wrong court and face delays or dismissals.

Probate Court (one in each of Maine's 16 counties): Handles private adoptions, independent adoptions, stepparent adoptions, kinship adoptions, and relative adoptions. Also handles adoption finalization for children coming out of DHHS cases after TPR is complete.

District Court: Handles child protection proceedings under Title 22 — including jeopardy hearings, case plan reviews, permanency hearings, and TPR petitions filed by DHHS. The District Court does not handle the adoption itself.

The pathway for a foster-to-adopt family is: District Court for the DHHS child protection case and TPR → Probate Court for the adoption petition after TPR is finalized.

A family pursuing a private infant adoption never touches District Court (absent unusual circumstances). They file their petition directly in Probate Court.

County-Specific Considerations

Because Maine's 16 Probate Courts are operated by independently elected Registers of Probate, there are variations in wait times, administrative practices, and scheduling. The statute is uniform across the state, but implementation is not.

Cumberland County has the highest caseload and can have scheduling delays of several months for adoption hearings. Smaller counties like Waldo and Washington often move faster. Filing fees are largely uniform — $65 for an adoption petition plus a $10 surcharge — with the Identogo fingerprinting fee ($49) added for required background checks.

Knowing which Probate Court to file in matters too. Under Section 9-103, you may file in the county where the petitioners reside, where the child resides, or where the child-placing agency is located. For families near a county border, choosing the right county can affect the timeline significantly.

Why This Matters for Your Adoption

Maine's Title 18-C framework was designed to be clear and protective. When it is followed precisely, adoptions proceed in an orderly way and result in legally bulletproof decrees. When steps are skipped — consent executed before 72 hours, home study submitted late, disbursements not properly documented — the court may refuse to proceed, require re-filing, or in extreme cases invalidate an adoption after the fact.

For families doing their own research or attempting a pro se filing, the text of Title 18-C is freely available on the Maine Legislature's website. But legislative text does not come with instructions on the order of operations, common filing errors, or county-specific procedures.

The Maine Adoption Process Guide is built around the Title 18-C framework, translating the statutory requirements into a practical checklist for each type of adoption — so you know what is required, in what order, and what to watch out for at each stage.

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