K.L.R. v. K.G.S.
| Decision Date | 09 March 2018 |
| Docket Number | 2150978 |
| Citation | 264 So.3d 65 |
| Parties | K.L.R. v. K.G.S. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Civil Appeals |
On Application for Rehearing
This court's opinion of December 1, 2017, is withdrawn, and the following is substituted therefor.
K.L.R. ("the birth mother") appeals the summary judgment entered by the Mobile Probate Court ("the probate court") on August 24, 2016, denying her contest challenging the adoption of a child ("the child") by K.G.S. ("the adoptive mother") and finding that the birth mother's belated attempt to withdraw her consent to the adoption was ineffective. We affirm the summary judgment. The birth mother also challenges the probate court's order entered on August 9, 2016, prohibiting her from making certain communications and requiring her to perform certain actions. We determine that the probate court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction to enter the August 9, 2016, order. Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal insofar as it relates to that order.
In October 2014, the birth mother discovered that she was pregnant. On December 5, 2014, the birth mother contacted Donna Ames and requested help with placing the unborn child for adoption. Ames was an attorney and also the president of Adoption Rocks, Inc., a nonprofit entity that aids in facilitating adoptions of unborn children. Ames arranged a meeting between the birth mother and the adoptive mother, after which the birth mother chose the adoptive mother to be the adoptive parent for the child. Ames was the adoptive mother's counsel during that time. The expected date of birth for the child was June 17, 2015.
On December 30, 2014, the adoptive mother filed in the probate court a motion for a hearing on the birth mother's prebirth consent to the adoption and a petition for preapproval of payments from the adoptive mother to the birth mother for maternity-related expenses. See § 26–10A–34(a), Ala. Code 1975 (). On February 6, 2015, the birth mother, the adoptive mother, and Ames appeared before Probate Judge Don Davis in a hearing on both of those matters. In a closed portion of the hearing with only the birth mother present, the probate judge explained to the birth mother the contents of the prebirth-consent form and the consequences of consenting to the adoption of the child, including that her consent could become irrevocable. Among other things, the probate judge explained that, after the birth of the child, the birth mother could withdraw her consent within 5 days for any reason and within 14 days if the court determined that the withdrawal was reasonable under the circumstances and consistent with the best interests of the child. See § 26–10A–13(a) and (b), Ala. Code 1975. The probate judge also explained that, after the 5–day and 14–day periods and before the entry of a final decree of adoption, the birth mother could withdraw her consent if she established that the consent had been procured by fraud, duress, mistake, or undue influence. See § 26–10A–14(a)(2), Ala. Code 1975. After this explanation, the birth mother testified that she wanted to give her prebirth consent to the adoption and that she understood each part of the prebirth-consent form as well as the applicable periods, conditions, and procedures for executing a withdrawal of her consent. She also testified that both Ames and one of her parents, who was an attorney, had reviewed the prebirth-consent form with her. After the birth mother executed the prebirth-consent form, the following discussion took place between the birth mother and the probate judge:
After the closed portion of the hearing, the birth mother, followed by the adoptive mother, testified regarding payments that had been made from the adoptive mother to the birth mother that the adoptive mother characterized as charitable payments for expenses. Later on February 6, 2015, the probate court entered an order approving the adoptive mother's payments for the birth mother's expenses.
On April 1, 2015, the biological father of the child executed a form giving his prebirth consent to the adoption of the child. The biological father has not been a party to any further proceedings in this case.
On May 23, 2015, Ames filed a motion to withdraw from further representation of the adoptive mother. The adoptive mother obtained representation by another attorney.
The child was born in a hospital on May 28, 2015, before the expected date of birth. The birth mother did not relinquish custody of the child to the adoptive mother; instead, she left the hospital with the child. The birth mother did not execute a withdrawal of her prebirth consent to the adoption within either the 5–day period or the 14–day period after the child's birth, as prescribed by § 26–10A–13(a) and (b).
On June 15, 2015, the adoptive mother filed in the probate court a petition to adopt the child. See § 26–10A–16, Ala. Code 1975. On the same day, the adoptive mother filed an emergency motion seeking an order from the probate court directing that the child be immediately placed in her custody. On June 16, 2015, the adoptive mother filed a petition in the Mobile Juvenile Court ("the juvenile court") alleging that the child was dependent and requesting immediate custody of the child. The juvenile court entered a pickup order and ordered the immediate transfer of the child's custody to the adoptive mother. On June 17, 2015, law-enforcement personnel picked up the child pursuant to the juvenile court's order. On June 19, 2015, the probate court entered an interlocutory order granting custody of the child to the adoptive mother. On July 8, 2015, the juvenile court entered a judgment dismissing the case before it based on a lack of subject-matter jurisdiction over the custody of the child, noting that it had received a copy of the probate court's June 19, 2015, order. The birth mother appealed the juvenile court's judgment, specifically challenging the orders that it had entered before the dismissal of the action. On January 8, 2016, this court dismissed the appeal as moot because, we held, the juvenile court's judgment dismissing the action for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction had dissolved its prior orders. K.L.R. v. K.G.S., 201 So.3d 1200, 1203 (Ala. Civ. App. 2016).
On June 19, 2015, the same day the probate court entered its interlocutory order granting the adoptive mother custody of the child, the birth mother filed in the probate court a notice of withdrawal of her consent to the adoption of the child and a motion contesting the adoption. In her motion, the birth mother alleged that the adoptive mother had obtained the birth mother's prebirth consent to the adoption by fraud, duress, mistake, or undue influence. See § 26–10A–14(a)(2). The birth mother specifically alleged that she had acted under the belief that Ames had represented her in connection with the prebirth-consent proceedings and that Ames had stated to her that the adoption would not proceed until "final paperwork" was completed at the hospital after the child was born.
On July 14, 2015, the birth mother filed a motion to reconsider the June 19, 2015, order granting the adoptive mother custody of the child. The birth mother argued, among other things, that because she had filed a notice of withdrawal of her consent to the adoption, her due-process rights had been violated by the entry of the order granting the adoptive mother pendente lite custody of the child without an evidentiary hearing having been held on the issues of her consent to the adoption and her fitness as a parent. The birth mother asserted that she had filed her notice of withdrawal of her consent to the adoption before the interlocutory order was entered later in the day on June 19, 2015. The birth mother also argued that her due-process rights had been violated when, she asserts, the probate judge failed to disclose to the birth mother that she was not being represented by counsel during the prebirth-consent hearing and that Ames was representing the adoptive mother. The adoptive mother filed a response arguing that the birth mother's due-process rights were not implicated because, she asserted, the birth mother had not filed a contest to the adoption before the probate court entered its interlocutory order.
On July 15, 2015, the birth mother filed a motion stating that, although she was not alleging any impropriety, "Judge Davis should recuse [himself] from this matter to avoid the appearance of impropriety and bias" as a result of his serving as an advisory board member for Adoption Rocks, Inc. On July 21, 2015, Judge Davis entered an order recusing himself from the proceedings.
After Judge Davis's recusal, the clerk of the probate court assigned J. Michael Druhan, an attorney, to preside over the proceedings. On July 22, 2015, the birth mother filed a motion requesting that Druhan recuse himself from the proceedings because he had not been properly appointed as a temporary judge. On the same day, the probate court entered an order denying the motion.1 Also in the July 22, 2015, order, the probate court, among other rulings, denied the birth mother's July 14, 2015, motion...
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