My fiancé and I have been together for 6 years. We have been engaged for a year this christmas. We are planning on getting married next summer but would like to start the adoption process now. My children's sperm donor passed away two years ago so he is not even an issue. We are just trying to find out if it is possible in the state of Washington to do so before we are married.

You'll need to talk to a lawyer.

Some states allow it to start earlier, with the adoption papers being signed and filed at the same time marriage papers are--making it a family merging thing as much as an adoption or a wedding.

But--only a lawyer in your area would know whether that would be so in your case.