Opinion ID: 2636685
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the juvenile court had jurisdiction to hear the petition to terminate mr. nuosci's parental rights

Text: ¶ 14 Mr. Nuosci argues that the juvenile court lacked jurisdiction to terminate his parental rights because a petition to adopt A.C.M. had previously been filed with the district court. We disagree. Because the adoption proceeding in district court had been dismissed, it was proper for the Worthingtons and Ms. Sullivan to file their petition to terminate Mr. Nuosci's parental rights in juvenile court. [T]he juvenile court has exclusive, original jurisdiction in proceedings concerning ... the termination of the legal parent-child relationship.... Utah Code Ann. § 78A-6-103(1)(g) (2008). [3] However, in cases where the termination of parental rights takes place in the context of a contested adoption, the district court has jurisdiction to terminate parental rights. Id. § 78B-6-133(2) (2008). In a contested adoption proceeding, the district court does not have discretion to transfer the proceeding to juvenile court to determine whether the rights of the contesting party ... may be terminated. K.B. v. D.P. (In re B.B.G.), 2007 UT App 149, ¶ 11, 160 P.3d 9. Though a district court judge cannot transfer an adoption proceeding to juvenile court because the juvenile court does not have concurrent jurisdiction over parental termination questions that arise in the context of contested adoption proceedings originating ... in the district court, the current termination proceeding against Mr. Nuosci did not arise in a contested adoption proceeding in the district court. Id. ¶ 15 The Worthingtons' petition to adopt A.C.M. was dismissed in June 2006 when the district court erroneously awarded permanent custody to the Worthingtons. And our opinion regarding that error did not affect the validity of the district court's dismissal of the adoption proceeding. In fact, our opinion makes clear that the adoption petition has been dismissed, and the dismissal was not challenged on appeal. A.N. v. M.I.W. (In re P.N.), 2006 UT 64, ¶ 18, 148 P.3d 927. Because the dismissal of the adoption proceeding ended any jurisdiction the district court had over the termination of Mr. Nuosci's parental rights, the termination petition was properly filed in the juvenile court.