A.A. v. C.H. and J.H.

Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama·Decided June 26, 2026·No. CL-2026-0049·Published

Opinion

Rel: June 26, 2026

Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the advance sheets of Southern Reporter. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Alabama Appellate Courts, 300 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36104-3741 ((334) 229-0650), of any typographical or other errors, in order that corrections may be made before the opinion is published in Southern Reporter.

ALABAMA COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS OCTOBER TERM, 2025-2026

CL-2026-0049

A.A.

v.

C.H. and J.H.

Appeal from Jefferson Juvenile Court (JU-25-648.01)

EDWARDS, Judge.

A.A. appeals from a judgment entered by the Jefferson Juvenile Court ("the juvenile court") finding that he is not the presumed father of A.Z.A.-H. ("the child"), finding the child dependent, and awarding custody of the child to C.H. ("the maternal uncle") and J.H. ("the

maternal aunt"). For the reasons set forth below, we reverse the juvenile court's judgment and remand the case for additional proceedings.

It is undisputed that L.C.H. ("the mother") was the mother of the child and that she developed metastatic brain cancer and died on March 31, 2025. On April 9, 2025, the maternal uncle and the maternal aunt (collectively referred to as "the maternal custodians") filed a petition in the juvenile court requesting that the child be declared dependent. In that petition, the maternal custodians asserted that A.A. ("the putative father") was the child's putative father and that he had "perpetrated a fraud on the mother by attempting to enter a marriage with her" in May 2022 in the country of Georgia, despite the fact that the putative father was already married.

The juvenile court appointed a guardian ad litem for the child and awarded the maternal custodians pendente lite custody of the child. The juvenile court held a hearing on the maternal custodians' dependency petition on May 20, 2025. Following that hearing, the juvenile court entered an order adjudicating the child dependent. That order does not indicate that the child had a legal father, and the maternal custodians appear to have been the only parties present at the hearing. The juvenile

court's handwritten findings attached to the May 2025 order indicate that the maternal custodians presented evidence to support their assertion that the marriage of the mother and the putative father was a nullity and that the putative father was not the legal father of the child.

On June 16, 2025, 27 days after the juvenile court entered the May 20, 2025, dependency order, the father filed a motion to reconsider or to set aside that order based on his assertion that he was the child's presumed father, that no effort had been made to contact him regarding the child, that the child's maternal relatives had intentionally withheld information from him to prevent him from contesting the dependency petition, and that he had become aware of the dependency action on June 6, 2025.1 The juvenile court held a hearing on the putative father's motion on July 28, 2025, and, on August 19, 2025, entered an order setting aside the May 20, 2025, order and setting the case for a new trial.2

1We assume that the juvenile court treated this motion as being made pursuant to Rule 60(b), Ala. R. Civ. P.

2In its order, the juvenile court noted that, in addition to considering the parties' arguments at that hearing, it had attempted to listen to a digital recording of the May 20, 2025, hearing but that the recording device "was inoperable and did not record any hearings" on May 20, 2025.

The putative father, through his counsel, requested several continuances of the setting of the new trial based on his inability to travel to the United States from the United Arab Emirates ("the UAE"), where he was employed as a professor. The putative father explained in his motions and supporting documentation that he had been unable to obtain a visa to travel to the United States because he had been indicted in Arizona for sexual assault. The putative father also requested that he be permitted to appear at the trial through a teleconferencing application. The juvenile court granted some of the putative father's motions for a continuance but denied his request to appear at the trial virtually.

The juvenile court held the new trial on November 13, 2025. The putative father's counsel presented an oral motion at the beginning of the trial, again requesting that the putative father be permitted to testify through a teleconferencing application. The juvenile court denied that motion. The maternal uncle offered the only testimony at trial. The record reveals the following information.

The putative father is a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and, at the time of the trial, he had been employed as a professor at the American University of Sharah in the UAE for 16 years. The putative father had

also been employed as a professor at Arizona State University ("ASU") at some point before the birth of the child. As noted above, at the time of the November 2025 trial, the putative father had been indicted for an alleged sexual assault that had occurred during his tenure at ASU, and it appears that a trial in that criminal case is scheduled for the summer of 2026.3 The record indicates that the putative father was married to D.T.

before July 2022. In July 2022, the putative father and D.T. became divorced by a judgment of the Coconino County Superior Court in Arizona ("the Arizona divorce judgment").4 The putative father was residing in the UAE at the time of the entry of the Arizona divorce judgment.

The mother was a United States citizen and was born in Alabama.

It is unclear when the mother and the putative father began a romantic

3The record does not reveal any other facts concerning the putative

father's prosecution in Arizona. Comments made by the putative father's counsel at the November 2025 trial suggest that the putative father was indicted in Arizona at least five years before the child was born.

4That judgment awarded the putative father and D.T. joint legal

custody of their minor child and appears to have awarded sole physical custody of that child to D.T., subject to the putative father's visitation rights.

relationship. However, it appears undisputed that the mother and the putative father were cohabiting at the putative father's residence in the UAE in May 2022. On May 20, 2022, the mother and the putative father traveled to the country of Georgia and purported to enter into a marriage contract. The record contains a marriage certificate purporting to marry the mother and the putative father, and that certificate bears the stamp of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia.5 Thus, it appears undisputed that the mother and the putative father attempted to enter into a valid marriage contract before the entry of the Arizona divorce judgment. According to the maternal uncle, the mother did not learn of the putative father's prior marriage until sometime in 2024. The putative father's trial counsel appears to have conceded at the conclusion of the trial that the putative father's marriage to the mother was invalid.

The child was born in the UAE on October 1, 2022. The child was issued a United States Consular Report of Birth Abroad ("the consular certificate") by the United States Department of State, certifying that the

5The record contains a copy of the marriage certificate that appears

to be translated into English and an original or copy of the marriage certificate in Georgian.

child was a United States citizen by birth. The child's UAE birth certificate and the consular certificate list the putative father as the child's father. The maternal uncle testified that, after the child was born, the child resided in the putative father's residence with the putative father and the mother. He further stated that the putative father referred to the child as his daughter and that he was not aware of any other individual who had held himself out as the child's father.

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A.A. v. C.H. and J.H., (Ala. Ct. App. 2026).

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