Worked like a charm! Thanks so much. Soooo thankful we were able to save money by doing this on our own! Here are some suggestions for those filing in Clark County...
STEP 2 can actually be done at the same time as STEP 1. Use the forms provided on this site and schedule your court appt for a Friday @ 2 p.m. (if you try to call, they'll just tell you to come in to get on the docket--but you can call to verify that all adoption appts are still scheduled for Fridays @ 2 pm). For "Courthouse Room", just write/type in "presiding judge". Our judge told us we'll need to wait about a week for paperwork to be processed before moving on to STEP 4. When you arrive at the family annex (601 Evergreen) for your appt, walk through security, and go straight ahead to the bulletin board to find your case number. This will tell you which judge/room you'll be using and where on the docket you are. They will only call a number for adoption cases -- no names. Our judge didn't ask to see original paperwork, but I'd still bring them.
All fees can be paid with a credit card. Good luck!
We filed at the Skamania County Courthouse on a Monday and had our hearing scheduled just 3 days later. We had to make a detour to a cash machine to pay the filing fee, because the clerk's office here does not accept checks or credit cards. Everyone from the clerk's office to the judge was nice and patient with us. We forgot to bring a 2nd copy of the documents when we filed, so we do not have an official file-stamped copy (we just have a regular photocopy for our file), but that does not seem like a big deal, especially now that we have the extra certified copies of the Decree of Adoption. The hardest part was putting together all of the documents -- we struggled a little getting the formatting correct. The Word Document examples were the easiest to work with, GoogleDocs messed up the headers even when we downloaded first. Otherwise, everything went well. The hearing took about 15 minutes, including photos with the judge.
We filed in Clark County (Vancouver). Following the instructions, it all worked smoothly. The Courthouse, where the office of the Clerk of Superior Court of Clark County resides is at 1200 Franklin Street, on the first floor of the main Courthouse. You can just walk in. If you go before 11am, they will be able to schedule the initial signing of step 1 and 2 for the same day at 1pm (only 1 parent must be present for this). The filing fee is $260 now (May 2016), but there was no separate filing fee for Step 2. One note: Even if you are submitting Step 1 and Step 2 together, and you already have the Post Placement Report in hand, you still have to fill out and file Form E (Order Directing Filing of Post Placement Report). The court hearing was set 2 weeks out for us, at 2pm on a Friday. The Family Annex is still located at 601 Evergreen.
Thank you SO much for all your hard work at putting this together! I just know we will find ths SO useful once we are home with our Lil Miss.
ReplyDeleteWorked like a charm! Thanks so much. Soooo thankful we were able to save money by doing this on our own! Here are some suggestions for those filing in Clark County...
ReplyDeleteSTEP 2 can actually be done at the same time as STEP 1. Use the forms provided on this site and schedule your court appt for a Friday @ 2 p.m. (if you try to call, they'll just tell you to come in to get on the docket--but you can call to verify that all adoption appts are still scheduled for Fridays @ 2 pm). For "Courthouse Room", just write/type in "presiding judge". Our judge told us we'll need to wait about a week for paperwork to be processed before moving on to STEP 4. When you arrive at the family annex (601 Evergreen) for your appt, walk through security, and go straight ahead to the bulletin board to find your case number. This will tell you which judge/room you'll be using and where on the docket you are. They will only call a number for adoption cases -- no names. Our judge didn't ask to see original paperwork, but I'd still bring them.
All fees can be paid with a credit card. Good luck!
thank you SO much. Aaron and Marcella, thanks so much, we're getting ready to file in Clark County!
ReplyDeleteWe filed at the Skamania County Courthouse on a Monday and had our hearing scheduled just 3 days later. We had to make a detour to a cash machine to pay the filing fee, because the clerk's office here does not accept checks or credit cards. Everyone from the clerk's office to the judge was nice and patient with us. We forgot to bring a 2nd copy of the documents when we filed, so we do not have an official file-stamped copy (we just have a regular photocopy for our file), but that does not seem like a big deal, especially now that we have the extra certified copies of the Decree of Adoption. The hardest part was putting together all of the documents -- we struggled a little getting the formatting correct. The Word Document examples were the easiest to work with, GoogleDocs messed up the headers even when we downloaded first. Otherwise, everything went well. The hearing took about 15 minutes, including photos with the judge.
ReplyDeleteWe filed in Clark County (Vancouver). Following the instructions, it all worked smoothly. The Courthouse, where the office of the Clerk of Superior Court of Clark County resides is at 1200 Franklin Street, on the first floor of the main Courthouse. You can just walk in. If you go before 11am, they will be able to schedule the initial signing of step 1 and 2 for the same day at 1pm (only 1 parent must be present for this).
ReplyDeleteThe filing fee is $260 now (May 2016), but there was no separate filing fee for Step 2.
One note: Even if you are submitting Step 1 and Step 2 together, and you already have the Post Placement Report in hand, you still have to fill out and file Form E (Order Directing Filing of Post Placement Report).
The court hearing was set 2 weeks out for us, at 2pm on a Friday. The Family Annex is still located at 601 Evergreen.