D.M. v. D.R.

Citation62 So.3d 920
Decision Date09 June 2011
Docket NumberNo. 2010–IA–01217–SCT.,2010–IA–01217–SCT.
PartiesD.M. and M.M.v.D.R.
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Mississippi

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

Samuel Ernest Linton Anderson, Arthur F. Jernigan, Jr., Ridgeland, Richard A. Oakes, Greenwood, attorneys for appellants.James Lawton Robertson, Linda Faye Cooper, Jackson, attorneys for appellee.Before WALLER, C.J., DICKINSON, P.J., and KITCHENS, J.KITCHENS, Justice, for the Court:

¶ 1. We granted interlocutory appeal in this case to decide the question of whether the appellee is entitled to assert the presumption that favors the natural parent in child custody proceedings. Because the voluntary surrender of rights in connection with an uncontested, final adoption is irrevocable, we reverse the judgment and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this decision.

Facts and Procedural History 1

¶ 2. D.R. (“Danica”) 2 gave birth to E.G. (“Edward”), a boy, on July 10, 2004. Edward's natural father was F.M. (“Fred”). Danica and Fred were never married to each other. On December 15, 2005, Mr. and Mrs. Gold, Danica's parents, filed a petition to adopt Edward, which Danica and Fred joined. By agreeing to the adoption, Danica and Fred surrendered their parental rights to Mr. and Mrs. Gold, the adopting parents. The Chancery Court of Leflore County entered the final decree of adoption on the same day the petition was filed, waiving the waiting period in accordance with Mississippi Code Section 93–17–13 (Rev.2004).

¶ 3. Mr. Gold died on April 25, 2006, about four months after the adoption was final, and Mrs. Gold died on August 25, 2006, about eight months after finalization of the adoption. While Mrs. Gold's will appointed her son Louis as testamentary guardian for Edward, Louis immediately renounced that appointment. D.M. and M.M. (“the Martins”), Edward's paternal grandparents, and Danica filed competing petitions for custody and guardianship of Edward. The Chancery Court of Leflore County appointed a guardian ad litem for the child and also appointed a temporary guardian of Edward's person on September 8, 2006. Pursuant to the guardian ad litem 's recommendation, the Martins were granted temporary physical custody of Edward on May 18, 2007.3 On July 9, 2007, the chancery court entered an order, referring to a previous order not included in the record on appeal, that granted certain limited visitation rights to Danica.

¶ 4. On November 16, 2007, the chancery court entered its final judgment, awarding guardianship and physical custody of Edward to the Martins. The court found that Danica, having consented to Edward's adoption, had abandoned him as a matter of law and that she therefore was not entitled to the natural parent presumption. The court ruled that her legal relationship to Edward was that of his sister. The court further found that Danica was “manifestly unsuitable” to be appointed Edward's guardian, and that the Martins were “manifestly suitable.” 4 The court therefore appointed the Martins as Edward's guardians and granted them permanent legal and physical custody of the child pursuant to Mississippi Code Section 93–13–13 (Rev.2004).

¶ 5. On September 22, 2009, the chancery court revisited its previous orders granting visitation rights to Danica upon discovering that the Martins were not cooperating concerning her visitation. The court stated that Edward's best interests required meaningful visitation with Danica, citing the unusual circumstances of the case. The court reasoned that Edward needed to make an informed decision as he grew older as to what sort of relationship he wanted to have with both sides of his family. The court further designated Mississippi's Access and Visitation Program (MAV–P) to facilitate and implement a visitation program.5 The parties agreed to supervised visitation administered by the program's administrator.

¶ 6. On March 29, 2010, Danica filed a motion to change custody and visitation, petitioning the court to award her sole custody of Edward. Danica argued that she should be awarded custody because she was entitled to the natural parent presumption. She further argued that her consent to her parents' adopting Edward did not constitute abandonment as a matter of law. She also argued that she was not, at the time relevant to her motion, unfit to have custody. Finally, she argued that Edward's best interest required that she be awarded custody.

¶ 7. The Martins filed their response to Danica's motion on April 23, 2010. They contended, inter alia, that Danica's voluntary consent to the 2005 adoption meant that she had abandoned Edward as a matter of law. The Martins cited the chancery court's ruling in the 2007 judgment that Danica stood as Edward's sister and not as his mother. The Martins further argued that Danica had evinced a settled purpose forever to relinquish her parental claims respecting this child, and as such, was unable to assert any presumption in her favor with respect to custody.

¶ 8. On May 11, 2010, Danica moved for partial summary judgment on the issue of whether she was entitled to the natural parent presumption, arguing that she had not forfeited the presumption when she had consented to her now-deceased parents' adoption of Edward. The chancery court granted her motion on June 16, 2010. The record presented on interlocutory appeal does not include findings of fact or conclusions of law in support of the court's order granting summary judgment.

¶ 9. The Martins filed their motion for reconsideration on June 24, 2010. In that motion, the Martins argued that the decision handed down by the Mississippi Court of Appeals in Adams v. Johnson, 33 So.3d 551 (Miss.Ct.App.2010), meant that Danica had forfeited her presumption in favor of the natural parent both through the adoption and via the chancellor's previous finding that she was unsuitable to be Edward's guardian. Danica, in response, argued that a natural parent is entitled to the presumption unless there is a judicial finding of abandonment, desertion, or other acts demonstrating unfitness to rear a child. The chancery court summarily denied the Martins' motion for reconsideration on July 26, 2010. The Martins then petitioned this Court for interlocutory appeal, which was granted on the sole issue of whether Danica is entitled to the natural parent presumption.

Standard of Review

¶ 10. Questions of law presented to the Court on interlocutory appeal from a trial court's grant of summary judgment are reviewed de novo. Miss. Dep't. of Transp. v. Allred, 928 So.2d 152, 154 (Miss.2006); Gant v. Maness, 786 So.2d 401, 403 (Miss.2001).

¶ 11. In all cases involving child custody, including modification, the polestar consideration is the best interest and welfare of the child. Johnson v. Gray, 859 So.2d 1006, 1013 (Miss.2003); Riley v. Doerner, 677 So.2d 740, 744 (Miss.1996).

Discussion

¶ 12. On appeal, the Martins raise two arguments. The first is that an adoption irrevocably terminates the natural parent's right to rely on the natural parent presumption. The second is that the chancery court's determination that Danica was manifestly unsuitable to assume Edward's guardianship after her parents' deaths bars Danica's assertion of the natural parent presumption as res judicata. Danica, in turn, argues that her consent to the adoption of Edward by his maternal grandparents was qualified in that she consented only to their adopting the child, and her consent should not be construed as a surrender of her rights to the world.

¶ 13. At the outset, we recognize both the uniqueness of the facts underlying this case and the fundamental liberty interests involved whenever the State interferes with the relationship between parent and child. See Stanley v. Illinois, 405 U.S. 645, 92 S.Ct. 1208, 31 L.Ed.2d 551 (1972) (holding that unwed fathers have a fundamental liberty interest that entitles them to due process and equal protection considerations under the Fourteenth Amendment); Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57, 120 S.Ct. 2054, 147 L.Ed.2d 49 (2000) (holding that a state statute regulating visitation rights must meet strict scrutiny before interfering with a parent's right to control a child's upbringing); Sinquefield v. Valentine, 159 Miss. 144, 132 So. 81, 83 (1931) (holding that federal constitutional guarantees of due process include parental liberty interests in the “privileges long recognized at common law”). This Court, in examining the interplay of the rights of the natural parent as compared to those of a third party, has stated:

A parent has a constitutionally protected liberty interest in the “companionship, care, custody and management of his or her children.” Stanley v. Illinois, 405 U.S. 645, 651, 92 S.Ct. 1208, 31 L.Ed.2d 551 (1972). However, parental status that rises to the level of a constitutionally protected liberty interest does not rest solely on biological factors, but rather, is dependent upon an actual relationship with the child where the parent assumes responsibility for the child's emotional and financial needs. As Justice Stewart observed in Caban v. Mohammed, 441 U.S. 380, 99 S.Ct. 1760, 60 L.Ed.2d 297 (1979) [Stewart, J., dissenting]: “Parental rights do not spring full-blown from the biological connection between parent and child. They require relationships more enduring.”

Griffith v. Pell, 881 So.2d 184, 187–88 (Miss.2004) (quoting A.J. v. I.J., 270 Wis.2d 384, 677 N.W.2d 630, 642 (2004)).

¶ 14. Guardianship and custody of minor children are governed by Title 93, Chapter 13, of the Mississippi Code of 1972, which treats custody and guardianship in the same manner. Section 93–13–1 (Rev.2004) provides, in relevant part:

The father and mother are the joint natural guardians of their minor children and are equally charged with their care, nurture, welfare and education, and the care and management of their estates.... But if any father or mother be unsuitable to discharge the duties of guardianship, then the court, or chancellor...

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