Why Registration of Adoption may be necessary-

An adoption may need to be proved in the court of law in case it is challenged. The challenge may come in certain special situations of matrimonial disputes as described below –

1. If a Hindu male adopts a child from his wife’s relations, and subsequent to adoption his relationship with his wife starts faultering for whatever reasons. In such a situation, he may be charged by the wife’s relatives with abduction/kidnapping of the child and the burden of proving that he had adopted the child shall be on him. It is, therefore, advised that he must have the adoption registered through a deed of adoption.

Further, the wife or her relatives could challenge the validity of adoption on various grounds. These include –

i) Wife could deny that she had ever given a valid consent for the adoption, thus trying to make the adoption invalid. It is therefore important that her consent be duly obtained in writing and included in the registered deed of adoption.

ii) It could be challenged that the child was a Hindu.

2. If the Hindu male, who had adopted a child unrelated to his wife, dies while being in matrimonial litigation with his wife, the child’s right of succession to his property shall be challenged by his wife who is still a legal heir to his estate (as the process of divorce had not been completed at the time of his death). Therefore, to protect the adopted child’s interests it is advised that the adoption must be registered through a deed of adoption.

3. If the Hindu male enters into a matrimonial dispute with his wife who has filed application for her maintenance, she will most likely challenge the existence of any adopted child living with her husband in order to stake a better claim on her husband’s earnings. The deed of adoption will then be very helpful to disprove her such false allegations.

4. Adoption may be challenged by other persons too after the adopting father’s death. It may be done to claim the estate of the deceased and the challenge may come from persons who may have pecuniary advantage by doing so. A deed of adoption will protect the adopted child’s interests in such an eventuality.

If a person leaves behind a will in which he recites about the child having been adopted, that does not prove conclusively that the child had indeed been adopted. The existence of a registered deed of adoption will be helpful to protect the adopted child’s interests.

If an adoption is challenged long after the adoption and it has all along been recognised by the members of the family as a valid adoption, the burden of proof to rebut the adoption is very heavy on the challenger.

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