In May of 2018, the Ohio Supreme Court put out its decision in In Re M.B.G.-E., a case regarding an adoption going through the Probate Court while other cases involving child custody were going on.
The Supreme Court ruled that while the Adoption Proceedings may continue while other courts handle their cases, the Probate Court must consider those other cases before it makes its decisions.
How Does This Affect Step-Parent Adoptions?
In most cases, the consent of a non-custodial parent is required for step-parent adoptions. A probate court can rule that consent is not necessary in certain cases, the most common being “willful abandonment” which is a failure to exercise parental rights and responsibilities for a long enough time that there is no parent-child relationship.
This ruling means that if a father or mother has an open case in Juvenile Court or Domestic Relations Court for visitation, the Probate Court must consider that in its ruling on whether consent is necessary, but does not have to stop its proceedings to wait for that case to play out.
Suppose Father has custody of Child, and Step-Mother wishes to adopt. If Mother has a case open in the Juvenile Court asking for visitation because a past agreement is no longer working, the Probate Court must consider that open case in deciding whether there is a willful abandonment of the child.
Since the wording of the ruling is that the court must “consider” the other case rather than that an open case automatically means there is not willful abandonment parents and step-parents should discuss their specific case with an attorney.
Where Can I Find More Information?
The Ohio Supreme Court has released information about the case and about their ruling at Court News Ohio.
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