Hello everybody .
I know there are a few very clever peeps out there that are well read and like to get their teeth into a nice juicy legal debate/investigation .. So here's one for you ...

A forty-something lady I know has had a major falling out with her family . The situation has been bad for a few years , and has now got to the point that she is seriously wanting to end all association with her family . I know the details , and I really can't fault her at all for her decision.

What she wants to know is how /is it possible to divorce herself from her current family , and have herself adopted by her friend's family .

I spoke to a lady about 4 years ago that had ( I think .... I wasn't really paying enough attention) done a similar thing , and she was involved in a legal precedent thing . The lady's name was Thuja Phillips (Named by hippy parents after a rare species of tree iirc ...sp?) . The legal thing she mentioned could have been Crown v Phillips (sp?)

Anyone got any ideas ?
If anyone can help then it would be very much appreciated .

She's forty something, not a child.

She doesn't need to divorce herself from her family. If she doesn't want to deal with them then stop dealing with them.

If she's ultra close with some other family and wants to maintain that closeness then she should just do it.

The courts have way too much genuine problems to be dealing with this 5hite.

The only reason I can think of someone wanting to do this would be to prevent anyone from her bloodline from interfering with medical decisions, including perhaps any mental issues where a third party could assume control of her assests, through the proper legal process (since she could already cut them out of any will).

But whilst debate here is interesting, the only answer would come from appropriate legal counsel on the issue.

p1nkyw1nky1 wrote:Hello everybody . I know there are a few very clever peeps out there that are well read and like to get their teeth into a nice juicy legal debate/investigation .. So here's one for you ... A forty-something lady I know has had a major falling out with her family . The situation has been bad for a few years , and has now got to the point that she is seriously wanting to end all association with her family . I know the details , and I really can't fault her at all for her decision. What she wants to know is how /is it possible to divorce herself from her current family , and have herself adopted by her friend's family . I spoke to a lady about 4 years ago that had ( I think .... I wasn't really paying enough attention) done a similar thing , and she was involved in a legal precedent thing . The lady's name was Thuja Phillips (Named by hippy parents after a rare species of tree iirc ...sp?) . The legal thing she mentioned could have been Crown v Phillips (sp?) Anyone got any ideas ? If anyone can help then it would be very much appreciated . Can't find any reference to any such case. It sounds like the sort of thing that might have occurred in some US state maybe? Crown v Philips would not be a UK case. "Regina v" denotes a criminal prosecution. Any such case as you describe would be under the names of the parties involved. I'm no expert but so far as I am aware for adoptions in the UK you have to be under 18 when the application is made. Unsurprisingly in the US it can be done, eg http://adoption.about.com/od/typesofado ... tadopt.htm http://adopting.adoption.com/child/adop ... adult.html

p1nkyw1nky1 wrote:Hello everybody . I know there are a few very clever peeps out there that are well read and like to get their teeth into a nice juicy legal debate/investigation .. So here's one for you ... A forty-something lady I know has had a major falling out with her family . The situation has been bad for a few years , and has now got to the point that she is seriously wanting to end all association with her family . I know the details , and I really can't fault her at all for her decision. What she wants to know is how /is it possible to divorce herself from her current family , and have herself adopted by her friend's family . I spoke to a lady about 4 years ago that had ( I think .... I wasn't really paying enough attention) done a similar thing , and she was involved in a legal precedent thing . The lady's name was Thuja Phillips (Named by hippy parents after a rare species of tree iirc ...sp?) . The legal thing she mentioned could have been Crown v Phillips (sp?) Anyone got any ideas ? If anyone can help then it would be very much appreciated . Can't find any reference to any such case. It sounds like the sort of thing that might have occurred in some US state maybe? Crown v Philips would not be a UK case. "Regina v" denotes a criminal prosecution. Any such case as you describe would be under the names of the parties involved. I'm no expert but so far as I am aware for adoptions in the UK you have to be under 18 when the application is made. Unsurprisingly in the US it can be done, eg http://adoption.about.com/od/typesofado ... tadopt.htm http://adopting.adoption.com/child/adop ... adult.html

Change her name, either legally or simply wish to be known by a different name and then just ignore the lot of them. Don't keep going back and having niggling rows (a la Jeremy Kyle Show).Personally I found it great to have one final say. even a letter would do! Then just have nothing to do with them. Easy.

She is an adult and assuming she has mental capacity is able to make a Will to settle her affairs on her death which can include appointing guardians for her children should she have any. She can choose to grant a Power of Attorney (POA) to trusted friends in the event that she lose capacity in the future. This POA can cover either or both financial and welfare matters. She can even change her name by deed poll.

If she did all this for all intents and purposes she will have divorced herself from her family. I assume she does not live in the family home?

As Elpers has said, she needs to grant POA, it needs to be lasting power of attorney, can be done for under £100 on many online sites.