Sc Stepparent Adoption?

Good morning.

To start, I have not talked to an attorney about this recently. Just curious if anyone has been through anything similar and can offer some advice or share their experience before I reach out to an attorney.

My daughter and I are domestic violence victims. I was with my abuser, her dad, from 2013-2018. She is now 9 years old and has not seen or spoken to her biological father since she was 4, and I would say they haven’t had a “normal” relationship since she was 2. He was in and out of her life the last two years. He was not allowed to see her without a guardian due to trying to take my life and eventually he fled the state(he was on probation) with his girlfriend. In 2020, while he had been missing for over a year, I was granted full custody and he was stripped of all his parental rights. In 2021, I was notified that he took his own life.

In 2020, I met the man who is now my husband and who my daughter now recognizes as her dad. She has very little memory of her biological father. My husband really wants to formally adopt her and she really wants to have the same last name as us. When I had my custody/divorce finalized, the attorney told me we could have it done easily whenever we were ready and that is when my ex was still alive. I assume it will be different now that he is deceased.

Has anyone been through a similar situation? Can you explain to me the process and the expense we would be looking at?

TIA ????????