Case Title: In re Adoption of M.B.

Citation: 2012-Ohio-236

Docket Number: 2011-0831

State: ohio

Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Date: 2012-01-25T00:00:00Z

Document:
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as In 
re Adoption of M.B., Slip Opinion No. 2012-Ohio-236.] 
 
 
 
NOTICE 
This slip opinion is subject to formal revision before it is published in 
an advance sheet of the Ohio Official Reports.  Readers are requested 
to promptly notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of Ohio, 
65 South Front Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, of any typographical or 
other formal errors in the opinion, in order that corrections may be 
made before the opinion is published. 
 
SLIP OPINION NO. 2012-OHIO-236 
IN RE ADOPTION OF M.B. 
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it 
may be cited as In re Adoption of M.B., Slip Opinion No. 2012-Ohio-236.] 
De minimis monetary gifts from biological parent to minor child do not constitute 
maintenance and support, because they are not payments as required by 
law or judicial decree as R.C. 3107.07(A) requires—Probate court’s 
determination whether financial contribution constitutes maintenance and 
support for purposes of R.C. 3107.07(A) is reviewed for abuse of 
discretion—Probate court’s determination whether parent has proved by 
clear and convincing evidence justifiable cause for failing to pay child 
support will not be disturbed on appeal unless it is against the manifest 
weight of the evidence. 
(No. 2011-0831—Submitted November 2, 2011—Decided January 25, 2012.) 
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Summit County, No. 25304,  
2011-Ohio-1215. 
__________________ 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
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SYLLABUS OF THE COURT 
1.  De minimis monetary gifts from a biological parent to a minor child do not 
constitute maintenance and support, because they are not payments as 
required by law or judicial decree as R.C. 3107.07(A) requires. 
2.  A probate court determination of whether a financial contribution constitutes 
maintenance and support for purposes of R.C. 3107.07(A) is reviewed for 
an abuse of discretion; but whether justifiable cause for the failure to pay 
child support has been proved by clear and convincing evidence is a 
separate question for the probate court and will not be disturbed on appeal 
unless it is against the manifest weight of the evidence. 
__________________ 
 
O’DONNELL, J. 
{¶ 1} The Ninth District Court of Appeals certified two questions which 
we agreed to review: one, its decision that monetary gifts from a biological parent 
to a minor child constitute maintenance and support for purposes of R.C. 
3107.07(A) and thus trigger the requirement that parental consent is needed 
before the adoption of the child is approved—which it found conflicts with In re 
Adoption of McCarthy, 6th Dist. No. L-91-199, 1992 WL 23175 (Jan. 17, 1992); 
and two, its decision that an appellate court should apply a de novo standard of 
review to a probate court’s decision regarding whether a biological parent’s 
financial gift constitutes maintenance and support of the child—which it found 
conflicts with In re Adoption of Kat P., 5th Dist. Nos. 09CA10 and 09CA11, 
2009-Ohio-3852. 
{¶ 2} When a biological parent has failed to make any of the court-
ordered monthly child-support payments in the year preceding the filing of an 
adoption petition, two de minimis gifts given to a minor child for Christmas and 
the child’s birthday do not constitute maintenance and support for the purposes of 
January Term, 2012 
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R.C. 3107.07(A).  Accordingly, we answer the first certified question in the 
negative. 
{¶ 3} Further, we recognize that the petitioner in an adoption proceeding 
bears the burden to prove by clear and convincing evidence the biological parent’s 
failure to provide maintenance and support for a period of one year preceding the 
filing of the adoption petition and to show the parent’s failure was without 
justifiable cause.  A probate court determination of whether a financial 
contribution constitutes maintenance and support for purposes of R.C. 3107.07(A) 
is reviewed for an abuse of discretion; but whether justifiable cause for the failure 
to pay child support has been proved by clear and convincing evidence is a 
separate question for the probate court and will not be disturbed on appeal unless 
it is against the manifest weight of the evidence.  Thus, we clarify the dual 
standard of review for this question. 
Facts and Procedural History 
{¶ 4} M.B. is the biological daughter of Ann R. and Stephen B., 
appellee.  They dissolved their marriage in 2000 in Florida, and the court granted 
custody of M.B. to Ann and ordered Stephen to pay $1,000 per month through the 
Florida Disbursement Unit as support for M.B.  He made these payments until 
February 2007.  However, in December 2007, he sent M.B. a $125 gift card for 
Christmas and in April 2008, $60 in cash for her birthday. 
{¶ 5} Ann remarried in 2001, and on September 12, 2008, her husband, 
Thomas, appellant in this case, filed a petition in the Summit County Probate 
Court to adopt M.B.  The petition alleged that Stephen had failed without 
justifiable cause to provide for the maintenance and support of M.B. during the 
year preceding the filing of the adoption petition and therefore his consent to the 
adoption was not required by statute.  Stephen objected to the adoption, denied 
that he had failed to provide maintenance and support for M.B. in the year 
preceding the filing, argued that he had given her both a Christmas gift and a 
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birthday gift, and claimed that he had had justifiable cause for failing to pay his 
court-ordered child-support payments. 
{¶ 6} A probate court magistrate determined that the gifts did not 
constitute maintenance and support for purposes of R.C. 3107.07(A), that Stephen 
had failed without justifiable cause to provide maintenance and support for the 
year preceding the filing of the adoption petition, and that his consent was not 
needed for the adoption to proceed.  The probate court adopted the 
recommendation of the magistrate. 
{¶ 7} Stephen appealed, arguing that the gifts he had given to M.B. 
constituted maintenance and support.  Applying a de novo standard of review, the 
appellate court reversed the decision of the probate court, held that gifts did 
constitute support, and concluded that the adoption of M.B. could not proceed 
without Stephen’s consent.  The court further stated: 
 
Despite the lack of child support payments, Father’s 
monetary gifts to M.B. evidenced his intent not to abandon his 
child.  * * * Although not child support pursuant to a judicial 
decree, those monies served to provide additional financial support 
for the benefit of the child.  Accordingly, there was clear and 
convincing evidence that Father provided for the maintenance and 
support of M.B. during the adoption period by virtue of his two 
monetary gifts to the child. Although Father’s total financial 
contribution to the child's welfare was small, the timing of the 
contributions was thoughtful and clearly evidenced his intent not to 
abandon the child. 
 
9th Dist. No. 25304, 2011-Ohio-1215, ¶ 17. 
January Term, 2012 
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{¶ 8} The appellate court certified that its ruling conflicted with a 
decision of the Sixth District Court of Appeals on the question whether a gift 
constitutes maintenance and support and with a decision of the Fifth District 
Court of Appeals on the applicable standard of review. 
{¶ 9} The Sixth District held in the case In re Adoption of McCarthy, 6th 
Dist. No. L-91-199, 1992 WL 23175, that gifts of ten dollars and four dollars 
given from a biological parent directly to a minor child on two separate occasions 
did not constitute maintenance and support. 
{¶ 10} And in the case of In re Adoption of Kat P., 5th Dist. Nos. 09CA10 
and 09CA11, 2009-Ohio-3852, the Fifth District stated that an “[a]n appellate 
court will not disturb a trial court’s decision on adoption unless it against the 
manifest weight of the evidence.”  Id. at ¶ 12. 
{¶ 11} We accepted the following certified-conflict questions: (1) “When 
a biological parent fails to provide any court ordered child support for one year, 
do small monetary gifts paid directly to the child constitute the provision of 
‘maintenance and support of the minor as required by law or judicial decree’ for 
purposes of R.C. 3107.07(A)?” and (2) “When reviewing a probate court’s 
decision regarding whether or not a biological parent’s financial contribution 
constitutes ‘maintenance and support of the minor as required by law or judicial 
decree’ for purposes of R.C. 3107.07(A), is the standard of review de novo or 
whether the decision is contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence?”  128 
Ohio St.3d 1555, 2011-Ohio-2905, 949 N.E.2d 42. 
{¶ 12} Thomas urges that small monetary gifts paid by a parent directly to 
a child do not constitute maintenance and support pursuant to R.C. 3107.07(A), 
and further asserts that a probate court’s determination whether a biological 
parent’s financial contribution constitutes maintenance and support can be 
reversed only if it is contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence. 
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{¶ 13} Stephen argues that any financial contribution to a child constitutes 
maintenance and support for purposes of R.C. 3107.07(A) and only the complete 
failure to provide maintenance and support obviates the need for a biological 
parent’s consent to adoption.  He further contends that the proper standard of 
review when interpreting statutory language is de novo. 
{¶ 14} Accordingly, we are called upon to decide whether de minimis 
monetary gifts from a biological parent to a minor child constitute maintenance 
and support, thus requiring parental consent pursuant to R.C. 3107.07(A), and we 
are further asked to clarify the standard of appellate review for these questions. 
R.C. 3107.07(A) 
{¶ 15} R.C. 3107.07(A) provides that consent to adoption is not required 
of “[a] parent of a minor * * * [who] has failed without justifiable cause * * * to 
provide for the maintenance and support of the minor as required by law or 
judicial decree for a period of at least one year immediately preceding either the 
filing of the adoption petition or the placement of the minor in the home of the 
petitioner.”1   
{¶ 16} We are primarily concerned with determining whether the gifts 
Stephen gave to M.B. are to be considered maintenance and support and whether, 
based on those gifts, his consent to her adoption is required by R.C. 3107.07(A). 
{¶ 17} We have previously held that “[p]ursuant to R.C. 3107.07(A), the 
petitioner for adoption has the burden of proving, by clear and convincing 
evidence, both (1) that the natural parent has failed to support the child for the 
requisite one-year period, and (2) that this failure was without justifiable cause.”  
See In re Adoption of Bovett, 33 Ohio St.3d 102, 515 N.E.2d 919 (1987), 
                                                 
1 The legislature amended this statute in 2008, after Thomas filed his adoption petition, to state 
that a court must find by clear and convincing evidence that a parent has failed to provide more 
than de minimis contact or to provide maintenance and support before an adoption can proceed 
without that parent’s consent.  This change does not affect the issues presented here. 
January Term, 2012 
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paragraph one of the syllabus, affirming In re Adoption of Masa, 23 Ohio St.3d 
163, 492 N.E.2d 140 (1986). 
{¶ 18} To determine whether a biological parent has failed to provide for 
the maintenance and support of a child, we must first determine the meaning of 
“maintenance” and “support” as those terms are used in R.C. 3107.07(A). 
{¶ 19} In State ex rel. Steele v. Morrissey, 103 Ohio St.3d 355, 2004-
Ohio-4960, 815 N.E.2d 1107, ¶ 21, this court stated that when determining how to 
construe a statute, “our paramount concern is the legislative intent in enacting the 
statute.”  To determine intent, we look to the language of the statute and the 
purpose that is to be accomplished by it.  See Rice v. CertainTeed Corp., 84 Ohio 
St.3d 417, 419, 704 N.E.2d 1217 (1999).  “When we conclude that a statute’s 
language is clear and unambiguous, we apply the statute as written, * * * giving 
effect to its plain meaning.”  In re Estate of Centorbi, 129 Ohio St.3d 78, 2011-
Ohio-2267, 950 N.E.2d 505, ¶ 14.  Further, this court construes a statute “as a 
whole and give[s] [it] such interpretation as will give effect to every word and 
clause in it.  No part should be treated as superfluous unless that is manifestly 
required, and the court should avoid that construction which renders a provision 
meaningless or inoperative.”  State ex rel. Myers v. Spencer Twp. Rural School 
Dist. Bd. of Edn., 95 Ohio St. 367, 373, 116 N.E. 516 (1917); see generally R.C. 
1.47(B) (in enacting a statute, it is presumed that the General Assembly intended 
the entire statute to be effective). 
{¶ 20} The General Assembly did not define the terms “maintenance” and 
“support” in R.C. 3107.07(A).  Black’s Law Dictionary 1039 (9th Ed.2009), 
however, defines “maintenance” as “[f]inancial support given by one person to 
another” and “support” as “[s]ustenance or maintenance; esp., articles such as 
food and clothing that allow one to live in the degree of comfort to which one is 
accustomed.”  Id. at 1577.  And, giving effect to every word in the statute, we 
note that the maintenance and support required by R.C. 3107.07(A) is that which 
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is specifically “required by law or judicial decree.”  Further, the statute directs 
that the consent of a parent who has failed without justifiable cause to provide for 
the maintenance and support required by law or judicial decree of a minor child 
for a period of one year preceding the filing of the adoption is not required for the 
adoption of the child.  De minimis monetary gifts from a biological parent to a 
minor child do not constitute maintenance and support, because they are not 
payments as required by law or judicial decree as R.C. 3107.07(A) requires.  To 
decide otherwise would render the phrase “as required by law or judicial decree” 
meaningless. 
Standard of review 
{¶ 21} This court has held that it is a question of fact whether a parent of a 
minor has willfully failed to provide for the maintenance and support of a minor 
child.  In re Adoption of Biddle, 168 Ohio St. 209, 216, 152 N.E.2d 105 (1958).  
A probate judge has discretion to determine whether the biological parent 
provided support as contemplated by R.C. 3107.07(A) “and his or her judgment 
should not be tampered with absent an abuse of discretion.”  See In re Adoption of 
Bovett, 33 Ohio St.3d at 107, 515 N.E.2d 919 (Douglas, J., concurring); see also 
In re Adoption of Charles B., 50 Ohio St.3d 88, 552 N.E.2d 884 (1990), paragraph 
three of the syllabus (“adoption matters must be decided on a case-by-case basis 
through the able exercise of discretion by the trial court”). 
{¶ 22} We continue to adhere to Bovett, in which we held that “[p]ursuant 
to R.C. 3107.07(A), the petitioner for adoption has the burden of proving, by clear 
and convincing evidence, both (1) that the natural parent has failed to support the 
child for the requisite one-year period, and (2) that this failure was without 
justifiable cause.”  33 Ohio St.3d 102, 515 N.E.2d 919, paragraph one of the 
syllabus.  We also remain mindful of the admonition in Santosky v. Kramer, 455 
U.S. 745, 747-748, 102 S.Ct. 1388, 71 L.Ed. 2d 599 (1982), that “[b]efore a State 
may sever completely and irrevocably the rights of parents in their natural child, 
January Term, 2012 
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due process requires that the State support its allegations by at least clear and 
convincing evidence.” 
{¶ 23} R.C. 3107.07(A) does not require parental consent to adoption if 
the parent either failed to communicate with or failed to support the child for a 
minimum of one year preceding the filing of the adoption petition and if there was 
no justifiable cause for the failure.  In applying this statute, a probate court 
undertakes a two-step analysis.  First, to determine if a parent made a financial 
contribution that comports with the requirements of R.C. 3107.07(A) to contribute 
maintenance and support and second, if it finds a failure of support, then to 
determine whether justifiable cause for the failure has been proved by clear and 
convincing evidence. 
{¶ 24} And as we held in Masa and affirmed in Bovett, “[t]he question of 
whether justifiable cause for failure to pay child support has been proven by clear 
and convincing evidence in a particular case is a determination for the probate 
court and will not be disturbed on appeal unless such determination is against the 
manifest weight of the evidence.” In re Adoption of Masa, 23 Ohio St.3d 163, 492 
N.E.2d 140, at paragraph two of the syllabus. 
{¶ 25} Today, we answer the question raised by Justice Douglas in his 
concurring opinion in Bovett—whether a parent’s making a single payment of 
support or sending a Christmas card is sufficient support to frustrate R.C. 
3107.07(A), or on the other end of the spectrum, whether a parent’s missing one 
or two payments of support in the year preceding the filing of an adoption petition 
negates the need for parental consent to adoption.  A trial court has discretion to 
make these determinations, and in connection with the first step of the analysis, an 
appellate court applies an abuse-of-discretion standard when reviewing a probate 
court decision regarding whether a financial contribution from a parent constitutes 
maintenance and support for purposes of R.C. 3107.07(A). 
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{¶ 26} In the instant matter, a Florida court ordered Stephen to pay $1,000 
per month as support for M.B., and he concedes that he failed to make any of 
those payments between September 12, 2007, and September 12, 2008, the year 
preceding the filing of the adoption petition.  He did not provide for the 
maintenance and support of the child as required by law or judicial decree.  
Nonetheless, he contends that by providing M.B. with a $125 gift card for 
Christmas and a $60 cash gift for her birthday, he provided maintenance and 
support during the requisite year.  However, these gifts were neither legally nor 
judicially required, and they represent only a small portion of one monthly child-
support obligation and an even smaller portion of the annual obligation.  A gift is 
a voluntary transfer of property to another made gratuitously by a donor.  Bolles v. 
Toledo Trust Co., 132 Ohio St. 21, 4 N.E.2d 917 (1936), paragraph one of the 
syllabus.  The Christmas gift card and birthday cash are de minimis gifts, not 
maintenance and support triggering the requirement for Stephen’s consent to the 
adoption, and they were not made pursuant to court order as the statute requires.  
Thus, Stephen failed to provide maintenance and support to M.B. as required by 
law or judicial decree for the year preceding the filing of the adoption petition. 
{¶ 27} A biological parent’s consent to adoption would be required if that 
parent could show by clear and convincing evidence some justifiable cause for the 
failure to provide support.  See In re Adoption of Bovett, 33 Ohio St.3d 102, 515 
N.E.2d 919, at paragraph two of the syllabus.  In this case, however, the probate 
court concluded that no justifiable cause existed, and Stephen did not challenge 
that determination in the court of appeals and does not dispute it here. 
{¶ 28} The record before us demonstrates by clear and convincing 
evidence that Stephen failed to provide maintenance and support without 
justifiable cause for the year preceding the filing of the adoption petition, and thus 
R.C. 3107.07(A) specifies that his consent to the adoption was not required. 
 
 
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Conclusion 
{¶ 29} De minimis monetary gifts from a biological parent to a minor 
child do not constitute maintenance and support, because they are not payments as 
required by law or judicial decree as R.C. 3107.07(A) requires.  Accordingly, we 
answer the first certified question in the negative. 
{¶ 30} A probate court determination of whether a financial contribution 
constitutes maintenance and support for purposes of R.C. 3107.07(A) is reviewed 
for an abuse of discretion; but whether justifiable cause for the failure to pay child 
support has been proved by clear and convincing evidence is a separate question 
for the probate court and will not be disturbed on appeal unless it is against the 
manifest weight of the evidence.  Thus, we clarify the dual nature of the standard 
of review on this question. 
{¶ 31} Accordingly, the judgment of the appellate court is reversed, and 
the judgment of the probate court is reinstated. 
So ordered. 
O’CONNOR, C.J., and PFEIFER, LUNDBERG STRATTON, LANZINGER, CUPP, 
and MCGEE BROWN, JJ., concur. 
__________________ 
Carmen V. Roberto, for appellant. 
Scot Stevenson, for appellee. 
______________________