The Adoption of a Foreign Minor is completed with a court decision that checks whether the essential and formal conditions set by law are met.
If the adopter and the adoptee have different nationalities, then the adoption takes place if the conditions set by the law of the citizenship of each party are met.
In this case, the adopted child was a British citizen and was two years old.
His mother remarried me Greek and now resides permanently in Greece. The second husband, with his application to the Single-Member Court of First Instance of his place of residence and with the consent of the mother of the minor child and his wife, asked to adopt her minor child from her first marriage.
The Greek Court has international jurisdiction for the adjudication of such a case, since the minor to be adopted has English citizenship, which he acquired automatically from birth due to the nationality of her natural parents, and the applicant's spouse has a natural mother to adopt. Greek citizenship and his usual residence is in Zakynthos.
The substantive conditions for the establishment of the adoption, which contains elements of foreignness in relation to its subjects, are regulated by the law of the nationality of each party. That is, in the event that the adopter and the adoptee have different nationalities in order to determine the substantive conditions of the adoption, the law of their own nationality applies to each of them, provided that the applicable provisions of foreign law do not conflict with the national public morals or class.
Furthermore, under United Kingdom law, adoption is governed by the Adoption and Minors Act of 2002, which received royal approval and entered into force on 07. Full adoption creates a legal status between the adoptee and his or her relatives and the adoptee and his or her relatives on the other hand similar to that between a child and his or her blood relatives, while the rights and obligations of the adoptee and his or her relatives of his blood relatives are interrupted.
In Greece, the institution of adoption of minors is a social institution of welfare with the mission of improving the position of adopted children, providing the possibility of their smooth mental development in a healthy social environment, with fully guaranteed rights and interests and their integration into a family , which in terms of legal consequences does not differ from the real family, in the replacement of which it intends.
For this reason, the minor adopted child is fully assimilated to the real child of the adoptive parent, joins the family of the latter, having towards the adoptive parent and his relatives all the rights and obligations of a child born in wedlock and at the same time his ties with his natural family.
Furthermore, according to the opinion of the Hellenic Institute of International and Foreign Law, in UK law on full adoption is allowed only the adoption of minors, ie persons who have not reached the age of 18 and the adoptee is prohibited from being or having been previously married time.
In order for the adoption request to be accepted by the Court, the residence of the child with the applicant is required, in case he / she is the partner of one of the natural parents of the child, for a period of six (6) months before the submission of the adoption application. Also, the consent of the natural parent of the child is required, who exercises parental care, which is given after the submission of the application for adoption.
When the prospective adoptive parent or the candidate to be adopted as a minor has his / her usual residence abroad, the consent of the prospective adoptive parents is always declared before the competent Greek court that makes the adoption.
All other consents, such as in this case the consent of the natural parent, which are necessary for the adoption to take place, are given if the consensual has his usual residence abroad before the competent Greek consular authority or the competent authority of the place of usual residence, as such a competent authority is the Notary based in the United Kingdom.
In the present case, the law applicable to the conditions of adoption in respect of the applicant, who has Greek citizenship, is Greek law, namely the provisions of the Civil Code regarding adoption and in respect of the minor adoptee, who has English citizenship. , the law of the United Kingdom, which is taken into account of its own motion by the Court.
The application is legal, given that for the admissibility of its discussion the prescribed legal pre-trial was observed by submitting a copy of the application to the competent Prosecutor of Zakynthos and the relevant social investigation report was submitted on time by the adoptive parent social worker of the Department of Social Welfare of the Directorate of Public Health and Social Welfare of the Regional Unit of Zakynthos.
According to the requirements of the law for the applicant in order to be able to adopt his wife's two-year-old daughter, it has been proven that he is capable of legal action, physically and mentally healthy, has a flawless criminal record, lives in family and social harmony and exceeds the minor by eighteen (18) and more than years, but not more than (50) fifty.
His financial situation is very good, able to ensure a comfortable living for the minor to be adopted. His motives are selfless and because of the love he has for these children who grow up with him with love, he consciously and responsibly accepts his parental role and is expected to continue to respond in the best way to the issues related to upbringing. of.
Based on the above and taking into account the morals, personality, state of health, family and property status of the first of the applicants, the selfless affection and care he showed to the adoptee, whose adjustment with him was perfectly harmonious and satisfactory, the Court finds that the adoption of the minor is in her interest and will be in her favor.
As a result of the above, provided that all the legal conditions are met according to the Greek and the United Kingdom law, the application was accepted and the minor was declared the adopted child of the applicant.
