Lack Of Notice To The Biological Father Does Not Invalidate Long-Established Adoption.

In 1961, a non-marital child was properly adopted under Texas law which at that time required consent only of the child’s mother; father had no notice of the birth or adoption. Thirty-six years later, the child found the father and they established a relationship. After father’s death intestate in Florida, the child and the father’s remote cousins filed competing petitions for administration. The trial court found for child, holding that the Texas adoption was not entitled to full faith and credit.

In Kemp & Assocs. v. Chisholm, the Florida intermediate appellate court reversed, holding that the adoption was entitled to full faith and credit, both for public policy reasons favoring the finality of adoptions and because the United States Supreme Court decision in Stanley v. Illinois, 405 U.S. 645 (1971), requiring notice to the biological father of a non-marital child of the pending adoption of the child could not be retroactively applied to long-closed cases such as this adoption completed in 1961.

Special thanks to William LaPiana (Professor of Law, New York Law School) for bringing this case to my attention.