The parents had to be 10 years older than the child. Provisions were also made for the adoption of deserted children, and the services and wages clause was dropped. Following adoption, the child assumed the surname of the adoptive parents and received the legal status, including inheritence rights, of a natural child. The natural parents continued to forfeit all rights. These separate record books end in 1917.
Volumes are chronological by date of initial case entries, and are labelled alphabetically.
The volumes include indices by the first letter of the child's natural or adoptive surname, but not by both. The Salt Lake County Probate Court initially had jurisdiction in adoption cases and started this series of record books. At statehood in 1896 the probate court was abolished, and jurisdiction passed to the Probate Division of the Third District Court in and for Salt Lake County. Entries continued to made in the same volumes. Permission to use the records must be obtained from the agency.