Swiss Civil Code

¹ A per­son who is not mar­ried and does not live in a re­gistered part­ner­ship is per­mit­ted to ad­opt a child alone if he or she is at least 28 years old.

² A mar­ried per­son who is at least 28 years old is per­mit­ted to ad­opt alone where the oth­er spouse per­man­ently lacks ca­pa­city of judge­ment or has been of un­known where­abouts for more than 2 years or if the spouses have been sep­ar­ated by court or­der for more than 3 years.

³ A per­son liv­ing in a re­gistered part­ner­ship who is at least 28 years old is per­mit­ted to ad­opt a child alone if his or her re­gistered part­ner per­man­ently lacks ca­pa­city of judge­ment or has been of un­known where­abouts for more than 2 years.

⁴ Ex­cep­tions from the min­im­um age may be made if this is ne­ces­sary for the wel­fare of the child. The per­son wish­ing to ad­opt must jus­ti­fy the ex­cep­tion.