Opinion ID: 2631723
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: facts

Text: [¶3] Appellant and Mother were not married at the time their daughter was born on August 21, 1999. [1] On February 2, 2000, an order was entered establishing paternity and requiring Appellant to pay $168.00 per month in child support. Soon thereafter, Appellant was convicted of a criminal offense. As a consequence, he completed the Youthful Offender's Program and was placed on intensive supervised probation. In November 2001, Appellant was arrested for a felony drug offense. He was subsequently convicted. As a result of this offense, Appellant served time in the Laramie County jail, the Wyoming State Penitentiary, the Wyoming Honor Farm and the Adult Community Corrections (ACC) facility in Cheyenne. He was still in the ACC program when the petition for adoption was filed. [¶4] In 2004, Appellant petitioned the district court for a reduction in his child support obligation. The district court determined that Appellant's net monthly income was $1,200.00 per month and entered an order increasing Appellant's support obligation to $254.00 per month effective September 1, 2004. From November 2001 through August 2004, Appellant's total support obligation was $5,712.00. He paid only $895.10. From September 1, 2004, through the date of the hearing on the necessity of consent, Appellant paid a total of $800.00 in child support. Appellant made no payments on his arrearages after the petition to adopt was filed. Prior to trial in March 2005, Appellant had not seen his daughter since June 2002. [¶5] Mother and adoptive Father began living together in 2001. They married prior to the initiation of the adoption proceedings. The adoption petition and Mother's consent to the adoption were filed on October 7, 2004. Appellant filed his response objecting to the adoption on November 10, 2004. An unreported bench trial was held on March 21, 2005, to determine whether Appellant's consent to the adoption was necessary. On April 12, 2005, the district court issued its Findings and Conclusions Regarding Adoption Without Consent (Findings and Conclusions). The court determined that Appellant's consent to the adoption was not required pursuant to Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-22-110(a)(ix) (LexisNexis 2003) because he had willfully failed to pay seventy percent of court ordered child support for a period exceeding two years prior to the filing of the petition and had failed to bring his support obligation current within sixty days after service of the petition to adopt. [¶6] Following issuance of the district court's Findings and Conclusions, a subsequent hearing was held in May 2005, regarding the suitability of petitioner as an adoptive father. The district court determined that the petition for adoption should be granted and entered the Decree of Adoption on May 31, 2005. This appeal followed.