§  110. Who may adopt; effect of article. An adult unmarried person or an adult husband and his adult wife together may adopt  another  person.  An adult married person who is living separate and apart from his or her spouse  pursuant  to a decree or judgment of separation or pursuant to a written agreement of separation subscribed by the  parties  thereto  and   acknowledged or proved in the form required to entitle a deed to be recorded or an adult married person who has been living separate and apart  from his or her spouse  for  at  least  three  years prior to commencing an adoption proceeding may adopt  another  person;  provided,  however,  that  the  person so adopted shall not be deemed the child or step-child of the non-adopting spouse for the purposes of inheritance or support rights or obligations or for any other  purposes.  An  adult  or minor husband and his adult or minor wife together may adopt a child of either of them born in or out of wedlock and an adult or  minor  husband or an adult or minor wife may adopt such a child of the other spouse. No person  shall  hereafter be adopted except in pursuance of this article, and in conformity with section three hundred seventy-three of the social services law.

An adult  married  person  who  has  executed  a  legally enforceable separation agreement or is a party to a marriage in which a valid decree of  separation  has  been  entered or has been living separate and apart from his or her spouse for at least three years prior to  commencing  an adoption proceeding and who becomes or has been the custodian of a child
  placed  in their care as a result of court ordered foster care may apply to such authorized agency for placement of said child with them for  the purpose of  adoption.  Final  determination  of  the  propriety of said adoption of such  foster  child,  however, shall  be  within the sole discretion of the court, as otherwise provided herein.

Adoption is the legal proceeding whereby a person takes another person into  the  relation  of child and thereby acquires the rights and incurs the responsibilities of parent in respect of such other person.  A proceeding conducted in pursuance of this article shall constitute a
  judicial proceeding. An order of adoption or abrogation made therein by a  surrogate  or by a judge shall have the force and effect of and shall be entitled to all the presumptions attaching to a judgment rendered  by a court of general jurisdiction in a common law action.

No adoption  heretofore  lawfully  made shall be abrogated  by the enactment of this article. All such adoptions shall have the effect of lawful adoptions hereunder.

Nothing  in  this article in regard to a minor adopted pursuant hereto inheriting from the adoptive parent applies to any will, devise or trust made or created before June   twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred seventy-three,  nor alters, changes or interferes with such will, devise or trust. As to any such will, devise or trust a  minor adopted before that  date is not an heir so as to alter estates or trusts or devises in wills so made or created. Nothing in this article in regard to an  adult adopted  pursuant  hereto inheriting from the adoptive parent applies to any will, devise or trust made or created  before  April  twenty-second, nineteen  hundred  fifteen,  nor alters, changes or interferes with such will, devise or trust. As to any such will, devise or trust an adult so adopted  is  not  an heir so as to alter estates or trusts or devises in wills so made or created.

It shall be unlawful to preclude a prospective adoptive parent or parents solely on the basis that the adoptor or adopters has had, or has cancer, or any other disease. Nothing herein shall prevent the rejection of  a prospective applicant based upon his or her poor health or limited life expectancy.