In Re CMA

557 N.W.2d 353, 1996 WL 734375
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedDecember 24, 1996
DocketC6-96-1507
StatusPublished

This text of 557 N.W.2d 353 (In Re CMA) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re CMA, 557 N.W.2d 353, 1996 WL 734375 (Mich. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

557 N.W.2d 353 (1996)

In re the Petition to Adopt: C.M.A.

No. C6-96-1507.

Court of Appeals of Minnesota.

December 24, 1996.

*354 Suzanne Born, Minneapolis, for Appellant Birth Mother.

Nancy A. Wiltgen, Leonard, Street and Deinard, Minneapolis, for Appellants Adoptive Parents.

Wright S. Walling, Jody Ollyver DeSmidt, Walling & Berg, P.A., Minneapolis, for Respondent Birth Father.

Considered and decided by HUSPENI, P.J., and PARKER and LANSING, JJ.

OPINION

LANSING, Judge.

C.M.A.'s birth mother and his adoptive parents appeal a district court order granting the child's alleged biological father's motion to vacate an adoption decree. We reverse, concluding as a matter of law that the statutory notice provisions were not violated, the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children violation does not warrant vacation of the adoption decree, and the failure to identify a biological father not entitled to notice of the proceedings does not constitute fraud upon the court. The alleged biological father asserts an additional argument raised but not decided in the district court — that the Minnesota statutes applicable to agency adoptions are unconstitutional. We remand for the district court to address the merits of the constitutional challenge to the Minnesota adoption statutes.

FACTS

C.M.A. was conceived in early 1995. His birth mother is K.M., who was then married to, but separated from, M.J.M. At the time of C.M.A.'s conception, K.M. had been involved in a sexual relationship with K.P. for over two years. The birth mother and K.P. both reside in New Hampshire.

In the spring of 1995, the birth mother informed K.P. that she was pregnant and that her anticipated due date was November 1, 1995. She claims that K.P. advised her to terminate the pregnancy and ended their relationship. In July 1995 K.P., through an attorney, expressed interest in retaining his parental rights. In response the birth mother, through her attorney, advised K.P. that she was unemployed because of her pregnancy and that under New Hampshire law, he *355 had an obligation to provide prebirth financial support. K.P. did not provide the birth mother any assistance during the pregnancy.

The birth mother began making arrangements for C.M.A.'s adoption during July 1995. Through a licensed Minnesota adoption agency, the birth mother identified D.A. and E.M. as prospective adoptive parents. C.M.A. was born on October 11, 1995, in New Hampshire. The prospective adoptive parents traveled to New Hampshire for the birth. They returned to Minnesota, with C.M.A. and his birth mother. K.P.'s name did not appear on the birth certificate.

On October 14, 1995, the birth mother signed an agreement conferring authority on the Minnesota adoption agency to place C.M.A. for adoption, and C.M.A. was placed with his prospective adoptive parents. The mother's consent to C.M.A.'s adoption became final on October 27, 1995.

K.P. learned of C.M.A.'s birth on October 20, 1995, but was unaware that C.M.A. had been taken out of the state of New Hampshire. On October 25, 1995, K.P. signed a notice of his claim of paternity, and he maintains that he filed it on that day with the New Hampshire Office of Child Support Enforcement. He also sent advisory letters of this claim to the New Hampshire Compact Administrator's office, to New Hampshire probate courts, and to numerous adoption agencies in the New Hampshire area.

K.P.'s attorney also sent the birth mother's attorney in New Hampshire a letter asserting K.P.'s paternity. The birth mother's attorney contacted the adoptive parents' attorney in late October, informing her of the letter and of a related telephone conversation with K.P.'s attorney. According to the adoptive parents' attorney, the birth mother's attorney stated that she had investigated the birth father registry in New Hampshire and determined that no one had registered as C.M.A.'s birth father prior to October 14, 1995, the date that the birth mother had given her consent to C.M.A.'s adoption.

K.P. filed a petition to establish paternity in New Hampshire on October 30, 1995. He served the petition on the birth mother on November 8, 1995.

The prospective adoptive parents filed a petition in a Minnesota district court on November 14, 1995, to adopt C.M.A. Neither the agency nor the adoptive parents attempted to obtain K.P.'s consent to the adoption. The birth mother's husband, as the "presumptive father," signed an agreement conferring authority on the Minnesota adoption agency to place C.M.A. for adoption on January 5, 1996.

The district court held a hearing on the petition for adoption on January 16, 1996. The adoptive parents testified that they did not know the biological father. Their attorney stated that they had obtained consent to the adoption from the birth mother's husband, and that his consent would become irrevocable after January 22, 1996. No one informed the court (and the adoptive parents and their attorney maintain that they did not know) that K.P. had brought a paternity action in New Hampshire which was then pending. The Minnesota court granted the petition for adoption, and the decree of adoption was filed on January 23, 1996.

K.P. sought discovery through the New Hampshire court system from the birth mother to locate C.M.A. Through the New Hampshire proceedings, K.P. learned on February 12, 1996, that C.M.A. had been adopted in Minnesota.

K.P.'s petition to establish paternity was dismissed in New Hampshire on February 21, 1996, on the ground that he had not timely filed notice of his claim of paternity under N.H.Rev.Stat.Ann. § 170-B:5-a(c) (1994). His subsequent motions for reconsideration were denied. The adoptive parents and their attorney maintain that they learned of the paternity action after it had been dismissed, one month after the finalization of C.M.A.'s adoption.

K.P. moved to vacate the adoption decree in Minnesota on March 29, 1996. The district court granted the motion, and the birth mother and adoptive parents appeal.

ISSUES

I. Does a biological parent's untimely filing of a claim of paternity in another state *356 entitle him to notice of adoption proceedings under Minn.Stat. § 259.51 (1994)?

II. Did the district court abuse its discretion by vacating the adoption decree on the basis of a violation of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children?

III. In an adoption proceeding involving a child placed by a licensed adoption agency, does fraud upon the court result from the nondisclosure of the identity of the child's biological father by the birth mother, adoptive parents, or their attorneys?

ANALYSIS

I

The district court's first basis for vacating the adoption decree was that the adoptive parents were required to give notice to the child's biological father and to obtain his consent to the adoption, but that they had failed to do so.

The issue of whether K.P. was entitled to notice of the adoption proceedings requires an interpretation of the applicable statutes and thus presents a question of law that we review de novo. Hibbing Educ. Ass'n v. Public Employment Relations Bd., 369 N.W.2d 527, 529 (Minn.1985); Frost-Benco Elec. Ass'n v. Minnesota Pub. Utils. Comm'n, 358 N.W.2d 639, 642 (Minn.1984).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Hibbing Education Ass'n v. Public Employment Relations Board
369 N.W.2d 527 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1985)
Frost-Benco Electric Ass'n v. Minnesota Public Utilities Commission
358 N.W.2d 639 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1984)
United Bank of Skyline, National Ass'n v. Fales
405 N.W.2d 416 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1987)
Marriage of Maranda v. Maranda
449 N.W.2d 158 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1989)
Halloran v. BLUE AND WHITE LIBERTY CAB CO. INC.
92 N.W.2d 794 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1958)
In Re Adoption/Guardianship No. 3598
675 A.2d 170 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 1996)
In Re the Welfare of A.M.P.
507 N.W.2d 616 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1993)
In Re Estate of Youmans
15 N.W.2d 537 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1944)
Hoyt Investment Co. v. Bloomington Commerce & Trade Center Associates
418 N.W.2d 173 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1988)
In re C.M.A.
557 N.W.2d 353 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1996)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
557 N.W.2d 353, 1996 WL 734375, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-cma-minnctapp-1996.