Attorney Sherry Virginia Neal's Legal Cases

Adoption

Relative Adoption

N/A

OUTCOME: Adoption granted

Mr. and Mrs. S had been caring for three grandchildren because both parents have substance abuse problems and a history of domestic violence that prevented them from complying with plans to reunite wit ... h the children. The children, all in counseling, needed stability and freedom from the disruption their parents’ substance abuse caused. In addition, Mr. S was terminally ill and wanted to provide for the children, both by creating a permanent home for them and by making financial resources available to them in the event of his death. Mrs. S had left her job to care for the children and her husband. I assisted this amazingly resilient family with a contested adoption hearing and was able to obtain permanency for the children and peace of mind for the grandparents. In addition, the family became eligible for a Social Security children’s benefit upon Mr. S’s passing and for adoption assistance benefits immediately following the adoption.

Adoption

Same-Sex Parents Adoption

N/A

OUTCOME: Adoption granted

L and N are a same-sex couple who lovingly planned for the conception of their son through artificial insemination. I helped them realize their goal for each parent to have full legal rights by handli ... ng their second parent adoption. While the adoption was pending, I helped L and N with paperwork to make sure that L's ability to provide for her son would continue even if N, his biological mother, were to die unexpectedly before we could complete the adoption. In addition, because their adorable son was born with Downs Syndrome, I helped L and N develop an estate plan that would protect their son’s access to medical benefits and other assistance through the use of a Special Needs Trust.

Adoption

Domestication of Foreign-Granted Adoption ("Re-adoption")

N/A

OUTCOME: Adoption granted

The B-H family worked with a private agency to bring their precious daughter home from Ethiopia with all of her adoption work in that country completed, but they needed to domesticate the adoption and ... obtain a Georgia-issued birth certificate for her. To help them accomplish their goals, I represented them in a domestication action based on the Ethiopian paperwork and helped obtain the birth certificate.

Adoption

Stepparent Adoption

N/A

OUTCOME: Adoption granted

Little J had an absent biological father but a supportive and loving stepfather. When the family came to me, they needed assistance with obtaining a surrender from the biological father and with makin ... g Mr. J’s day-to-day role as “dad” a legal reality. I was able to obtain a surrender from the biological father, to obtain waiver of any adoption home study, and to work with the J family through every aspect of their stepparent adoption.

Sherry Virginia Neal's Legal Cases (4)

Relative Adoption

Same-Sex Parents Adoption

Domestication of Foreign-Granted Adoption ("Re-adoption")

Stepparent Adoption