CHICAGO – Linc Morris admits it took him awhile to get used to the idea of being adopted – which probably explains why he was 42 years old by the time it happened.

Morris’ mother and father divorced when he was young, and he grew up with both parents and their new spouses, spending the bulk of his formative years with his mother and stepfather.

He and his stepfather talked about adoption off and on for years, but “never pulled the trigger,” he said. But his biological father’s death three years ago led Morris to the realization that he finally was ready. The adoption was finalized in 2005.

“It made me evaluate a lot of things that were happening in my life, things that had happened in my life,” Morris said. “It occurred to me that this was the right thing to do.”

Morris’ story might not be the adoption scenario most people imagine, but it isn’t unique. Although firm statistics aren’t available, legal experts say adult adoptions aren’t as rare as some might think.

And the issue has gotten national attention of late, thanks to the ongoing paternity battle over the late Anna Nicole Smith’s daughter and a multimillion-dollar dispute involving a former lesbian couple working its way through courts in Rockland, Maine.

One of the men who claims to be the father of Smith’s infant daughter, the 59-year-old husband of actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, is a prince who purportedly gained his title not by blood but by being adopted – as an adult – by a German princess.