Libro Primero · Título II Capítulo VI. De la adopción

The rights and obligations arising from adoption, as well as the civil kinship established between adopter and adoptee, do not extend to the relatives of one or the other.

However, the adoptee and the children of the adopter must be considered, treated and presented in social relations as siblings; but between them there is no right of reciprocal succession.

The adopter has, with respect to the person and property of the adoptee, the same rights and obligations that parents have with respect to the person and property of children.

The adopted person shall have toward the person of the adopter the same rights and obligations that children have with respect to their parents.

Upon the establishment of the adoption, the adopter acquires parental authority over the adoptee and the latter has the right to use the former's surname.

The adopted person's attainment of majority does not terminate the adoption, but puts an end to the parental authority exercised over him by the adopter.

The husband and wife may adopt when both agree to consider the adopted minor as a child. Outside this case, no one may be adopted by more than one person.

One of the spouses may also adopt the child of the other.

The guardian may not adopt the ward until the accounts of the guardianship have been definitively approved and the property has been delivered to the protutor.

The adopter is not a legal heir of the adoptee, but the latter is a legal heir of the former.

If the adoptee is not an heir, he shall have the right to be provided maintenance until reaching the age of majority.

In the case of testate inheritance, maintenance shall be owed only to the extent that the property and work of the maintenance obligee are insufficient to satisfy his needs.

The adopted person and his or her natural family retain their reciprocal succession rights. If the adopted person should die before the adopter or renounce the inheritance or be excluded therefrom, his or her children have no right of representation nor to be supported by the adopter.

The adoptee who is a minor upon the death of the adopter shall return to the authority of their natural parents or guardian, or to the applicable social assistance institution.

Adoption is established by public deed, upon prior approval of the respective proceedings by the competent First Instance judge.

The petition for adoption must be filed with the judge of First Instance of the adopter's domicile.

The minor's birth certificate shall accompany the petition and the testimony of two honorable persons shall be offered to prove the adopter's good conduct and his economic and moral capacity to fulfill the obligations imposed by the adoption.

If the minor has property, the adopter shall submit a notarial inventory thereof and constitute sufficient guarantee to the satisfaction of the judge.

If the applicant had been the guardian of the minor, they shall present the documents in which it is recorded that their accounts were approved and that the property was delivered.

The parents of the minor, or the person exercising guardianship, shall express their consent to the adoption.

The Public Prosecutor's Office shall examine the proceedings and if it raises no objection, the judge shall declare that there is ground for the adoption and shall order that the respective deed be executed.

The adopter and the parents of the minor, or the person exercising guardianship, shall appear in the deed of adoption. Once the deed is signed, the minor passes into the custody of the adopter, as does the property, if any, and the certified copy shall be presented to the Civil Register for its registration within the fifteen days following the date of execution.

The provisions of this Code governing parental authority, its suspension, loss and rehabilitation shall govern adoption insofar as they are applicable.

Adoption terminates:

1º.By mutual consent of adopter and adoptee, when the latter has reached the age of majority; and

2º.By revocation.

Adoption may be revoked:

1.By the adoptee acting against the life and honor of the adopter, his spouse, ascendants or descendants;

2.By maliciously causing the adopter an appreciable loss of his property;

3.By accusing or reporting the adopter, imputing to him any crime, except in his own case or that of his ascendants, descendants or spouse; and

4.By abandoning the adopter who is physically or mentally ill or in need of assistance.

Revocation shall be declared by the tribunal, at the request of the adopter with the intervention of the Public Prosecutor's Office and of the persons who gave their consent to constitute the adoption.

The decision declaring the revocation of the adoption, or the loss or suspension of the parental authority of the adopter, requires the judge to immediately take the appropriate measures so that the minor returns to the power of his parents if they exist, or remains under the guardianship of a qualified relative or of the corresponding assistance center.

The rehabilitation of the adopter for the exercise of parental authority leaves the adoption in force under the terms established in the respective deed.

The judicial decisions referred to in the preceding articles shall be certified so that the Civil Register and the Property Register, as applicable, make the respective annotations.