Legal Question in Family Law in Mississippi

Re: change birth certificate

Section 93-17-3(4) of Miss. Code Annot (2007) provides that any person may adopt another even though the whole purpose of the statute is focused on minor adoptions. In the case of In re Estate of Reid 825 So.2d 1 (Miss. 2002), the Mississippi Supreme Court ignored the opportunity to consider whether an adult adoption was authorized under the statute since the context of the 93-17-3 was directed towards minor children. So by weak negative implication, it seems that "any person" is not limited to minors which were the subject of the prior subparagraphs.

In the case of Baker v. Williams, 503 So.2d 249 (Miss. 1987), the mother of a 11 year old child born during a marriage sued to have the paternity of the child determined after the mother's divorce from the presumptive father, his refusal to agree to an adoption by the putative father, and after the mother married the putative father. The Miss. Supreme Court reversed the Chancellor's dismissal of the case, and the threshold question for the chancellor then became whether to compel the presumed and putative fathers to submit to blood tests.