DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, OFFICE OF VITAL STATISTICS, APPELLANT,
v.
THE ADOPTION OF BABY GILLI, APPELLEE
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The Department of Health challenged an order by Volusia County Circuit Court appointing an intermediary to release adoption records and identifying information to a birth mother. The Fifth District Court of Appeal held that only the court that entered the original adoption judgment (Orange County Circuit Court) had authority to decide whether to disclose adoption file information, and quashed the Volusia County order as beyond that court's jurisdiction.
The court held that Volusia County Circuit Court lacked jurisdiction to enter the disclosure order. Only the court in which the adoption judgment was originally entered has the continuing authority and custody of the adoption case file to decide whether to disclose adoption information.
[1] The court in which the judgment of adoption was entered retains continuing authority over adoption files and disclosure of information therefrom.
[2] A circuit court lacks authority to order the disclosure of adoption information or appoint an intermediary when the adoption judgment was entered by a different circuit c…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“the issue of whether or not to disclose information from the file is under the continuing authority of the court in which the judgment of adoption was entered as it is that court which has custody of the case file.”
Establishes the fundamental jurisdictional rule that only the court entering the adoption judgment has authority over disclosure decisions.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceBeverly Outlaw, the birth mother of a now-adult woman adopted in 1953, filed a petition in Volusia County Circuit Court on September 15, 1998, request…
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COBB, J.
This appeal arises from a petition for adoption information filed on September 15, 1998 by Beverly Outlaw (birth mother of Baby Gilli) in the Circuit Court of Volu-sia County, Florida. The petition requested all information concerning the adoption of her now adult girl who was born on March 3, 1953. Additionally, Outlaw requested “all information to be released to Bertie Hunt as court intermediary.” The reason given by Outlaw for the request was that her daughter had a “right to know her heritage” and Outlaw wanted to tell her the reasons why she was placed for adoption. Finally, Outlaw indicated that “there is a need for medical information to be given to her.”
On September 17, 1998, the lower court appointed Bertie Hunt, who was a notary and private investigator in Orange County, Florida, as intermediary and ordered that she could receive all identifying information concerning the adoption and all records relating to the adoption. The intermediary was appointed to act as an agent to determine whether the adoptive family or adoptee could be located and would consent to the release of identifying information.
The Department of Health, Office of Vital Statistics, filed a motion for relief pursuant to Rule 1.540 from the order appointing the intermediary and releasing adoption information. The Department challenged, inter alia, the jurisdiction of the Volusia County Circuit Court since it was not the court that entered the judgment of adoption. That judgment was entered by the Orange County Circuit Court. The circuit court below rejected the arguments of the Department, including those directed to the issue of jurisdiction. The court noted that all circuit courts in Florida have jurisdiction over adoptions and that a birth parent should not have to seek out the correct one.
We disagree with the jurisdictional analysis of the court below. Clearly, all circuit courts within the State of Florida have subject matter jurisdiction to hear adoptions and related proceedings. § 63.032(3), Fla. Stat. (1997). However, that is not the question. As stated by the First District Court of Appeal:
[T]he issue of whether or not to disclose information from the file is under the continuing authority of the court in which the judgment of adoption was entered as it is that court which has custody of the case file. That court is obviously the court referred to throughout section 63.162 of the Florida Statutes. It would be unreasonable to construe it otherwise. The complexity that would occur in having an adoption judgment entered in the Columbia County Circuit Court but having further issues involved in the same file considered only by the Leon County Circuit Court is unnecessary and not the intent of the statute.
Department of Health and Rehabilitation Services v. Kimmick, 390 So. 2d 1218 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980).
In Dixon v. Melton, 515 So. 2d 1309 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987), the district court indicated that the question of whether to disclose adoption file information lies with the court in which the adoption was entered and “remains under the continuing authority of that court after the final judgment of adoption was entered.... Once one court has exercised its jurisdiction over a particular case, another court lacks authority to determine the existence of good cause and to order the file opened.”
Under the above rationale, Judge Sanders in Volusia County had no authority to enter the order of disclosure and order appointing intermediary. Accordingly, we quash the order of the Volusia County Circuit Court entered on September 17, 1998.
ORDER QUASHED.
DAUKSCH and GOSHORN, JJ., concur.
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In re the Adoption OF D.P.P. v. C.P., 158 So. 3d 633 (Fla. 5th DCA 2014)…(2012) (“[A] proceeding for adoption may be commenced by filing a petition ... in the circuit court.”); see also, e.g., Ponce v. Children’s Home Soc’y, 97 So. 2d 194, 197 (Fla.1957); Dep’t of Health, Office of Vital Statistics v. Adoption of Gilli, 746 So. 2d 1172, 1173 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999). Likewise, we disagree that the judgment of adoption is void. “A void judgment is so defective that it is deemed never to have had legal force and effect.” Sterling Factors Corp. v. U.S. Bank Nat'l Ass’n, 968 So. 2d 658, 6…
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D.J. v. Dep't OF Child. & Families, 890 So. 2d 370 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004)…ek to have the judge in the closed adoption case exercise jurisdiction over their request to inspect and copy records from the that case. See § 63.162(2), Fla. Stat. (2003). See also Dep’t. of Health, Office of Vital Statistics v. Adoption of Gilli, 746 So. 2d 1172 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999); Dixon v. Melton, 515 So. 2d 1309 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987). We grant the petition and direct the judge in the closed adoption case to conduct proceedings pursuant to section 63.162 of the Florida Statutes on petitioners’ motion to i…
Authorities Cited
- Dixon v. Melton, 515 So. 2d 1309 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987)
- Fla. Dep't of Health & Rehabilitative Servs. v. Kimmick, 390 So. 2d 1218 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980)