McDuffee, In re, 48712
| Decision Date | 11 December 1961 |
| Docket Number | No. 48712,48712 |
| Citation | 352 S.W.2d 23 |
| Parties | In the Matter of Margaret Ruth McDUFFEE (Formerly Known as Margaret Ruth Bramble), a Minor. John W. McDUFFEE and Virginia McDuffee, Petitioners, Appellants, v. Arthur K. REHM, Guardian ad Litem for Margaret Ruth McDuffee (Formerly Known as Margaret Ruth Bramble), a Minor, Respondent. |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Arthur K. Rehm, Clayton, Guardian ad litem for Margaret Ruth McDuffee, a Minor; and for respondent.
F. X. Cleary, Paul S. Brown, Moser, Marsalek, Carpenter, Cleary, Jaeckel & Hamilton, St. Louis, for appellants.
This action was brought in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County on November 19, 1958, to annul a decree of adoption of a minor child rendered in the juvenile division of that court on April 12, 1956. The petitioners, husband and wife, are the adoptive parents and the respondent is the duly appointed guardian ad litem of said child. The trial court, on motion of the guardian ad litem, dismissed the petition for failure to state a claim on which relief could be granted. Petitioners appealed to the St. Louis Court of Appeals, where the judgment of the trial court was affirmed. 341 S.W.2d 315. Thereafter, on application of petitioners, the cause was transferred to this court in accordance with the provisions of Art. V, Sec. 10, of the Constitution of Missouri, V.A.M.S., and S.Ct. Rule 84.05, V.A.M.R.
The petition alleged:
'1. That, on April 12, 1956, [the Juvenile Division of the Circuit Court of St. Louis County], upon evidence and proof adduced and upon the report and answer of a duly appointed acting guardian ad litem for Margaret Ruth Bramble, found as follows:
petition for adoption of Margaret Ruth Bramble be approved, and that from said date of April 12, 1956, said child was the child of petitioners as fully as though born to them in lawful wedlock, and the Court further decreed that the child's name of Margaret Ruth Bramble be changed to Margaret Ruth McDuffee.
'3. That Margaret Ruth McDuffee is an 11 year old child who is suffering from mental disturbance and the existence thereof is demonstrated by anti-social behavior, poor development of conscience and complete lack of guilt over said behavior. Further, said child needs protective environment of an institutional kind for her own welfare and that of society.
'4. That said serious mental disturbance of said child had its beginning at an early age when damage to her personality and character occurred prior to her being placed in custody of petitioners and prior to the decree of adoption heretofore granted.
The prayer was that the decree of adoption be annulled and that all rights and obligations that accrued by reason thereof be set aside and for such further and other relief as to the court should seem meet and proper.
Appellants contend that the trial court erred in sustaining respondent's motion to dismiss 'for the reason that appellants, by averring the fact of adoption, the fact of mental disturbance requiring institutional care, personality and character damage, the origin of which predated the adoption, and further averring that an adoption annulment would be in the minor child's best interest, have stated facts sufficient for the trial court to exercise its power to annul or revoke its former adoption decree.'
Respondent says the trial court correctly ruled the motion and that once adoption was validly decreed on April 12, 1956, which under Section 510.370 RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S. (superseded by St.Ct. Rule 75.01), became a final judgment after the expiration of 30 days, the trial court was without jurisdiction to set it aside on any ground other than those specified in Section 453.130 RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S. (All statutory references herein are to said revision unless otherwise indicated.) That section provides:
'Whenever a person adopted under the provisions of this chapter shall develop venereal infection as a result of conditions existing prior to the time such person was adopted, or shall develop feeble-mindedness or epilepsy, or shall prove to be a member of a race, the members of which are prohibited by the laws of this state from marriage with members of the race to which the parents by adoption belong, a petition setting forth such facts may be filed at any time within five years after such adoption with the court which decreed the adoption, and if on a hearing the facts in such petition are established, the said court may enter a decree annulling the adoption and setting aside any and all rights and obligations that may have accrued by reason of said adoption.'
Concededly, the petition here does not allege and appellants do not contend that it is predicated upon any of the grounds enumerated in Sec. 453.130. Appellants' position is that the jurisdiction of the circuit court is not limited to the grounds enumerated in Sec. 453.130; that in instances such as is pleaded in this case, the circuit court may annul adoption decrees upon such grounds as would entitle a court of equity to vacate any other decree; and that one of the grounds generally recognized and accepted as warranting the exercise of equitable jurisdiction to annul a prior valid adoption is plea and proof of facts demonstrating that annulment will best promote the welfare of the child.
In addition to numerous citations from the courts of other states, appellants also rely upon the case of In re Zartman's Adoption, 334 Mo. 237, 65 S.W.2d 951, in support of their contention that jurisdiction of the circuit court to annul a decree of adoption is not limited by Sec. 453.130. In that case, the petition of Wubenhorst and his wife to adopt Zartman, a minor, was filed in, heard by and, at the May 1930 Term of the Juvenile Division of the Circuit Court of Jackson County, sustained and adoption as prayed was decreed. Thereafter, at the same term, the guardian ad litem filed a motion to set the decree aside on grounds of unfitness of one of the petitioners to be an adoptive parent, which motion was set for hearing at the same term on September 6, 1930, due notice of which was given to the petitioners. Prior to that date, however, the trial court, acting of its own motion and without notice, set the decree aside. Upon learning of the action of the court, petitioners moved to set aside the latter order and for a hearing on the merits. The trial court denied the motion and petitioners appealed to this court. One of the grounds urged on appeal was that the juvenile court of Jackson County was a court of limited powers, a creature of statute, and that the only powers given it with reference to annulment of adoption decrees were those enumerated in Sec. 14080 R.S.1939, which now is Sec. 453.130, supra. The Supreme Court disposed of that contention adversely to the appellants by holding that the statutes relating to adoption constituted a complete code within themselves, jurisdiction of which was vested in the juvenile division of the circuit...
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Allen v. Smith
... ... The judgment is affirmed ... RUARK, P. J., and HOGAN, J, concur ... --------------- ... 1 In re McDuffee, Mo. (banc), 352 S.W.2d 23, 26(1); Contrare v. Cirese, Mo., 336 S.W.2d 485, 489(5); Brasker v. Cirese, Mo., 269 S.W.2d 62, 65(1); Marley v. Marley, ... ...
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Adoption of B.J.H., In re
... ... 1983) (holding civil procedure rule allowing annulment of judgments obtained by fraud applies to action to annul an adoption decree); In re McDuffee, 352 S.W.2d 23, 26 (Mo.1961) (en banc) (holding decree of adoption may be vacated "upon any of the classical grounds that entitle ... courts to ... ...
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K. W. S., In re
... ... In re McDuffee, Mo., 352 S.W.2d 23; Child Sav. Institute v. Knobel, 327 Mo. 609, 37 S.W.2d 920, 76 ... A.L.R. 1068; State ex rel. M. L. H. v. Carroll, Mo.App., ... ...
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B.L.G., In Interest of, s. 14797
...any of the classical grounds that entitle such courts to vacate any other decree, such as judgments procured by fraud ...," In re McDuffee, 352 S.W.2d 23, 27 (Mo. banc 1961), quoted with approval in In re Novak, 536 S.W.2d 33, 37 (Mo. banc 1976), Richard did not, in this proceeding, directl......