T.G.G. v. H.E.S., A.F.K., et al., A18-1616 - a podcast by TCL Media

Unless a statutory exception applies, Minn. Stat. § 259.52, subd. 8(1) (2018) bars a putative father who is not married to a child’s mother and who fails to register with the Minnesota Fathers’ Adoption Registry within 30 days after the birth of the child “from bringing or maintaining an action to assert any interest in the child during the pending adoption proceeding concerning the child.” One such statutory exception applies to a putative father who, with the mother of the child, has signed a recognition of parentage (ROP) pursuant to Minn. Stat. § 257.75 (2018) that has not been revoked. See Minn. Stat. §§ 259.49, subd. 1(a)(7); 259.52, subds. 6, 8 (2018). An ROP may not be revoked after “the date of an administrative or judicial hearing relating to the child in which the revoking party is a party to the related action.” Minn. Stat. § 257.75, subd. 2.

Appellant T.G.G. (“father”) and respondent H.E.S. (“mother”) had sexual intercourse in March of 2017, and mother gave birth to a child in January of 2018. Two days after the birth, the child was placed for adoption with respondents A.F.K. and N.D.K. (“adoptive parents”). Father became aware of the birth and, 37 days after the birth, requested a paternity test. Fifty-two days after the birth the results indicated that father was the child’s biological father. Father asked mother to allow him to raise the child and to stop the adoption process, but mother refused. Sixty-eight days after the birth mother signed a voluntary recognition of parentage (ROP), which had the effect of recognizing father as the child’s biological father. On that same day father registered with the Fathers’ Adoption Registry.

Seventy days after the birth, father filed this paternity action, seeking to be adjudicated the father of the child and naming mother as a party, and sought injunctive relief prohibiting the adoption. Three days later, without the presence of any party, the district court issued an order enjoining any adoption. Meanwhile, between the 68th and 75th days, mother signed an ROP revocation form, which was received and processed by the Department of Health (as required by statute).

Father moved for summary judgment in the paternity action, and three days later, the adoptive parents filed a petition to adopt the child in Ramsey County, and moved to intervene in the paternity action and to dismiss that action under Minn. R. Civ. P. 12.02(e). The district court granted the adoptive parents’ motions, dismissing the paternity action based on section 259.52, subdivision 8(1). The court of appeals affirmed.

On appeal to the supreme court, the issues are (1) whether section 259.52, subdivision 8(1) requires dismissal of a first-filed paternity action when the putative father registers with the Fathers’ Adoption Registry before an adoption petition is filed but more than 30 days after the child’s birth; (2) whether mother’s attempted revocation of the ROP was effective when it occurred after the district court had issued a temporary order restraining the adoption proceeding; and (3) whether section 259.52, subdivision 8 violates constitutional protections of due process and equal protection as applied to the facts of this case. (Isanti County)

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