unadopted 39 year old daughter!

Texas- When I married, I had an illegitimate daughter, who was school age and because of issues with biological father, he could not adopt her, in the meantime she began signing her last name as the same as her new stepfather, which went on through school, social security card work certificates etc. now at 38 she is getting ready to get married and I realize that something needs to be done. What should we do? Adopt now? What are the legalities of the matter. Help!

Hi there. Texas law recognizes a doctrine known as equitable adoption under certain circumstances. In other words, it is somewhat like a common-law marriage where there were no formal adoption papers but the parties acted as if the child had been adopted and raised her. You really need to speak with a family law attorney, and if you go to their main page I think WLD has lawyers who could help. Hope it works out. AJJ