Opinion ID: 4200908
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Cases on Adoption and Jurisdiction

Text: ¶ 132 Justice Himonas claims to find support for his contrary conclusion in a line of adoption cases in other states. Those cases, in his view, establish the well-settled general rule that courts lack subjectmatter jurisdiction over adoption proceedings predicated on invalid consent. See supra ¶ 30 n.10. Justice Himonas also proffers support for his analysis in Utah precedent—in this court’s decision in Deveraux’ Adoption v. Brown, 268 P.2d 995 (Utah 1954), and in cases requiring a notice of claim under the Governmental Immunity Act and the exhaustion of administrative remedies as prerequisites to jurisdiction. See supra ¶ 25. Yet none of the cited cases supports the lead opinion’s framework. Here, a court rendered a final judgment that C.C.’s consent was valid and complied with ICWA. And no one has challenged that final judgment—either via direct appeal or collateral attack. No court that we are aware of—and Justice Himonas cites none—has ever revisited the factual or legal underpinnings of a mother’s consent sua sponte in a subsequent proceeding. ¶ 133 All of the cases cited by Justice Himonas are distinguishable. First, nearly all of them fit within the two categories of subject-matter jurisdiction identified above. And the few that do not fit this paradigm bear no resemblance to the facts of this case, as they involve statutory prerequisites to jurisdiction that are not present in our code. ¶ 134 Justice Himonas’s cases generally fall into three categories. In one category the courts are simply stating that a defect in a mother’s consent is a legal barrier to the issuance of an adoption order.16 No one legal defect in a court’s decision goes to “justiciability” (and must be raised sua sponte and may be considered at any time). 16 See, e.g., L.T. v. W.L., 159 So. 3d 1289, 1291 (Ala. Civ. App. 2014) (vacating adoption on biological mother’s petition to set aside judgment because Alabama statute requires that minors be represented by a guardian ad litem prior to giving consent; finding lack of jurisdiction to issue the adoption decree because mother, a minor at the time, was not represented by a guardian ad litem at any point in the proceedings); Westerlund v. Croaff, 198 P.2d 842, 845 (Ariz. 1948) (noting that district court had concluded that father was unwilling to consent and that his consent was required; concluding that writ of prohibition was appropriate to enjoin further adoption proceedings); Arnold v. (cont.) 71 Adoption of B.B. Lee, A.C.J., Opinion of the Court in part doubts that conclusion. A birth mother’s consent is undeniably a prerequisite to the issuance of an adoption decree. And in that sense it can certainly be said that the court lacks “jurisdiction” to issue an adoption decree. Yet these holdings appear in cases in which the birth parent appears and challenges the validity of the consent. So they tell us nothing useful about the question presented here—which is whether a failure of consent is a subject-matter jurisdictional defect that can be raised by the court sua sponte.17 ¶ 135 Other cases cited in the lead opinion rest on principles of personal jurisdiction. In these cases courts have allowed a collateral Howell, 219 P.2d 854, 858 (Cal. Dist. Ct. App. 1950) (setting aside adoption on the ground that consent was obtained by fraud, noting that consent is a jurisdictional prerequisite in the sense that it is a basis for setting aside an adoption where the issue is raised by a party); In re Adoption of List, 211 A.2d 870, 873–74 (Pa. 1965) (using the term “jurisdiction” and “jurisdictional” to identify statutory requirements for adoption and identifying a “presumption of [the adoption decree’s] validity and regularity and an implication . . . that the court did find the necessary facts and did perform all the steps essential to the jurisdiction of the court” and placing the “burden . . . on the person attacking an adoption decree to establish its invalidity by clear and convincing evidence”). 17 See In re JWT, 104 P.3d 93, 94 (Wyo. 2005) (distinguishing a failure to file all of the statutorily required documents with the adoption petition—a Wyoming statutory precondition to suit that if not followed will void the proceedings “ab initio”—from “a case where mother file[s] a false affidavit” which [on its face meets the statutory requirements], concluding that where the necessary documents are filed—albeit falsely—“the district court might have . . . jurisdiction to proceed with the adoption”); McGinty v. Jewish Children’s Bureau, 545 N.E.2d 1272, 1275 (Ohio 1989) (per curiam) (rejecting a habeas petition challenging the court’s subject-matter jurisdiction to issue an adoption where there was an alleged defect in consent; concluding that “once a final determination has been made that the parents validly consented to the adoption, that determination removes the basis for a habeas corpus attack on the ground that the court ordering the adoption lacked subject matter jurisdiction”). 72 Cite as: 2017 UT 59 Lee, A.C.J., Opinion of the Court in part attack on a final order by a birth parent whose connection to or notice from the forum state was constitutionally defective.18 Occasionally the courts have offhandedly referred to such a defect as going to subjectmatter jurisdiction.19 But, confusing terminology aside, this is decidedly 18 G.M.D. v. M.D., 610 S.W.2d 305, 307 (Mo. Ct. App. 1980) (vacating adoption on petition of parent whose consent was required and who had not been given adequate notice of the proceedings); In re Jackson, 28 P.2d 125, 129 (Nev. 1934) (same); In re Holder, 10 S.E.2d 620, 622 (N.C. 1940) (vacating adoption on petition from brother and legal heir of deceased biological mother on several grounds, including that the biological mother’s consent was required and she had not been given notice of the adoption proceedings and that the adoption order was never signed by the court); Adoption of Robin, 571 P.2d 850, 856 (Okla. 1977) (setting aside an adoption on petition of a biological father whose consent was required for the issuance of an adoption and who was deprived of due process by the adoptive parents’ fraud on the court and finding that birth mother’s consent was obtained by fraud and duress); Hughes v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co., 383 P.2d 55, 60 (Or. 1963) (granting biological child’s petition declaring him the legal heir of his deceased mother where the biological mother was not given notice of the adoption proceedings nor was her consent obtained and no exception to such requirement was satisfied). 19 C.T. v. J.S., 951 P.2d 1199, 1200 (Alaska 1998) (using the term subject-matter jurisdiction but reasoning only that the lower court ruling that mother was estopped from refusing consent was in error and reversing adoption on that basis); G.M.D., 610 S.W.2d at 307 (mentioning the term subject-matter jurisdiction in stating the rule 60(b) standard but making no reference to it thereafter in assessing the validity of a challenge raised by biological mother—not by the court sua sponte); In re Holder, 10 S.E.2d at 622 (using the terminology of subject-matter jurisdiction in reference to the fact that “neither parent was made a party” to the adoption proceeding); In re Adoption of L.D.S., 155 P.3d 1, 8 (Okla. 2006), as supplemented on reh’g, No. 250 (Mar. 6, 2007) (holding district court was divested of jurisdiction during pendency of appeal and voiding adoption issued during the time when the district court lacked jurisdiction on account of a pending appeal); Hughes, 383 P.2d at 60–63 (using the term subject-matter jurisdiction in (cont.) 73 Adoption of B.B. Lee, A.C.J., Opinion of the Court in part not a matter of subject-matter jurisdiction. The lack of notice or connection to the forum goes to personal or territorial jurisdiction. And that sort of jurisdiction has long been understood as subject to the law of preservation and waiver—in that a failure to raise a personal jurisdiction defense at the first opportunity results in a forfeiture, and the matter is not the court’s to raise.20 ¶ 136 Justice Himonas also cites a few cases where the states’ adoption statutes require that specific documents be filed simultaneously with the petition for adoption as a precondition to the court’s acquisition of subject matter jurisdiction over the case.21 Even under this third category of cases, jurisdiction is determined as of the the context of a case that turned on the failure of the adoption court to give notice to the biological mother of the adoption proceeding). 20 See, e.g., All Real Prop., Residence & Appurtenances, 2005 UT 90, ¶ 10 (holding that a failure to raise an objection to personal jurisdiction or defective notice at first opportunity in a proceeding results in waiver or forfeiture of the claim). 21 In re I.H.H-L., 251 P.3d 651, 656–57 (Kan. Ct. App. 2011) (interpreting the Kansas adoption statute to require attachment of consent to the petition as a precondition to a court’s jurisdiction to hear an adoption petition and concluding failure to do so precluded the district court from acquiring subject-matter jurisdiction over the adoption but also rejecting a rule where “subject matter jurisdiction could fluctuate moment to moment” and embracing the federal rule that subject-matter jurisdiction is determined at the time of filing of the complaint); In re Adoption of Kassandra B., 540 N.W.2d 554, 559 (Neb. 1995) (“The fact that the statute is phrased in the past tense indicates that the requisite consents should be obtained prior to filing the petition.”); In re Ralph, 710 N.Y.S.2d 500, 502–03 (App. Div. 2000) (concluding that failure to file complete adoption applications precluded the court’s exercise of jurisdiction and dismissing the action); In re JWT, 104 P.3d at 94 (identifying Wyoming statutory requirements that required particular documents to be filed “with the petition to adopt” and concluding that their absence at the time of filing rendered the adoption “invalid ab initio,” but noting that had the documents been filed—even if their content were false—jurisdiction might properly be found). 74 Cite as: 2017 UT 59 Lee, A.C.J., Opinion of the Court in part filing of the action. It is not divested by any subsequent interpretive error that may arise in the case. ¶ 137 Here Justice Himonas does not assert that there was any defect in jurisdiction at the time the case was initiated. He couldn’t. By statute, our Utah courts are expressly authorized to assume jurisdiction over adoption petitions and determine parental rights and consent at any time during the proceeding—prior to the issuance of the adoption.22 And there is no dispute that the district court did in fact terminate C.C.’s rights and determine that no father had established rights in the child prior to proceeding on the petition for adoption. See Order Allowing Relinquishment of Parental Rights, Terminating Birth Mother’s Parental Rights, and Determining Birth Father’s Rights at 2 (Sept. 25, 2014). ¶ 138 The cases cited by Justice Himonas should also be viewed in historical perspective. Many of the cited cases are from a bygone era— in which adoption was disfavored and the rights of biological parents were elevated above the best interests of the child and the interests of adoptive parents.23 22 See UTAH CODE § 78B-6-109(1)–(2) (allowing determination of parental rights to occur at any point in an adoption proceeding prior to issuance of the adoption); id. § 78B-6-105 (identifying the filing of an adoption petition as the only thing required to initiate an adoption proceeding); id. § 78B-6-112(2)(a) (authorizing a court to terminate parental rights in the adoption proceeding). 23 See, e.g., Westerlund, 198 P.2d at 843–44 (“As adoption is in derogation of the common law, generally speaking it may be said that adoptive statutes should receive a strict construction, particularly with respect to the jurisdiction of the court or where the effect of the adoption would be to deprive a natural parent of the possession of his child.”); In re Jackson, 28 P.2d at 127 (“The act of adoption takes a child away from its parent by destroying the legal and natural relation between them and creating in its stead an artificial relation deemed by law to be for the best interests of the child. It is in derogation of the common law which regards the natural rights of the parents to be of a sacred and enduring character. As the statute confers a special power of this kind which may be exerted in opposition to the wishes, or without the consent of the parents, it should be strictly construed in their favor. (cont.) 75 Adoption of B.B. Lee, A.C.J., Opinion of the Court in part ¶ 139 But these principles have no application to Utah adoption law today. Our Utah Adoption Act was enacted in 2008. And in enacting this law our legislature made express findings rejecting the notion that adoption is disfavored because it disrupts biological family ties. See UTAH CODE § 78B-6-102. Our legislature has thus rejected the premises underlying many of the cases cited by Justice Himonas. In Utah the best interests of the child are paramount. Id. § 78B-6-102(1). We also have recognized the fundamental interests of adoptive parents. Id. § 78B-6-102(5)(d). These are other grounds for suspicion of Justice Himonas’s reliance on the cited cases. ¶ 140 The issue presented in this case, moreover, is quite distinct from that presented in the cases cited by the majority. Here we are squarely presented with a question regarding subject-matter jurisdiction—whether we may consider a potential objection that no party has raised and that goes to an order that was rendered final and unappealable many months back. The lead opinion’s theory on this point is unprecedented. It has cited no authority for the proposal to review a final order that determined that valid consent was given and that was never challenged by the mother who gave the consent. Indeed, the district court’s order was not even challenged by the putative father—either below or on appeal. The lead opinion’s view that we have authority, indeed an obligation, to review the mother’s consent is without support in the cited cases. The courts are quite uniform in applying the rule of strict construction in favor of the parents’ natural rights in adoption proceedings.”); Adoption of Robin, 571 P.2d at 855 (“Adoption statutes are to be strictly construed in favor of the natural parents where the controversy is between the natural parents and persons seeking to destroy that status.”); Hughes, 383 P.2d at 59 (“[T]he right of adoption being in derogation of the common law, is a special power conferred by statute, and the rule is that such statutes must be strictly construed. . . . [T]he court in adoption proceedings is exercising a special statutory power not according to the course of the common law, and when its decree is called in question, even collaterally, no presumptions in favor of jurisdiction are indulged, but the facts necessary for jurisdiction must appear affirmatively, on the face of the record.” (citation omitted) (internal quotation marks omitted)). 76 Cite as: 2017 UT 59 Lee, A.C.J., Opinion of the Court in part ¶ 141 Utah law is likewise unhelpful to the lead opinion. The Deveraux’ Adoption case is similar to the line of adoption cases cited by Justice Himonas.24 Deveraux speaks of a court “never obtain[ing] jurisdiction to exercise the power to grant” an adoption in a case in which there was a defect in a birth mother’s consent. Deveraux’ Adoption v. Brown, 268 P.2d at 998. But the Deveraux court’s notion of “jurisdiction” goes only to the legal authority of the court to award certain relief (to issue an adoption decree). Deveraux had no occasion to consider whether a defect in the birth mother’s consent deprived the court of subject-matter jurisdiction because the birth mother herself intervened in the adoption and “objected that her consent was never validly given.” Supra ¶ 21 (citing Deveraux, 268 P.2d at 996). So Deveraux likewise tells us nothing of relevance to the matter before us. 3. Governmental Immunity Act and Administrative Exhaustion ¶ 142 That leaves only the governmental immunity and administrative exhaustion cases cited by Justice Himonas. The lead opinion cites those cases to support its view that “[t]here are often prerequisites individual litigants must meet to show that they have satisfied the requirements of subject matter jurisdiction even when we unquestionably have subject matter jurisdiction over” a general category of cases. Supra ¶ 25. We have no quarrel with that general proposition. The “categories” of cases over which our courts have subject-matter jurisdiction certainly have boundaries to them. And litigants must make a case-by-case showing as to whether they fall within the relevant boundaries. But that unobjectionable proposition is hardly a license for us to treat mere preconditions to the issuance of a given type of order as a bar to the exercise of subject-matter jurisdiction. 24 Deveraux likewise suffers from the background principles problem. It long predates Utah’s current adoption act. And it identifies adoptions as disfavored and fails to mention principles of the best interests of the child or the rights of adoptive parents—elevating the rights of biological parents above all else. See Deveraux’ Adoption v. Brown, 268 P.2d 995, 997 (Utah 1954). 77 Adoption of B.B. Lee, A.C.J., Opinion of the Court in part ¶ 143 Conditions that go to subject-matter jurisdiction are clearly denominated as such.25 And they are, by necessity, conditions that can be established fairly easily at the outset of the litigation. Familiar examples in federal court are the existence of a federal question or the diversity of citizenship of the parties (and a sufficient amount in controversy). See 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331–32. But in Utah our district courts are courts of general jurisdiction. They have general power to hear “all matters civil and criminal” so long as they are “not excepted in the Utah Constitution and not prohibited by law.” UTAH CODE § 78A-5- 102(1). The code, admittedly, places certain restrictions on the jurisdiction of our district courts. But they are expressly denominated as such—as jurisdictional limits.26 And they are matters that may be easily assessed at the outset of the litigation, unlike legal preconditions to the issuance of a given form of judicial relief. ¶ 144 It is true that the governmental immunity and administrative exhaustion cases identify “case-specific procedural facts” that have been deemed to go to subject-matter jurisdiction. Supra ¶ 24. But these cases provide no authority to treat any legal precondition to the issuance of a form of judicial relief as subject-matter jurisdictional. Instead these cases fit comfortably within the settled paradigm. 25 See, e.g., Labelle v. McKay Dee Hosp. Ctr., 2004 UT 15, ¶ 8, 89 P.3d 113 (“Article VIII, section 5 of the Utah Constitution vests in the district court ‘original jurisdiction in all matters except as limited by this constitution or by statute.’ We presume that our district courts retain their grant of constitutional jurisdiction in the absence of a clearly expressed statutory intention to limit jurisdiction.”); see also Arbaugh v. Y&H Corp., 546 U.S. 500, 515–16 (2006) (“If the Legislature clearly states that a threshold limitation on a statute’s scope shall count as jurisdictional, then courts and litigants will be duly instructed and will not be left to wrestle with the issue. But when Congress does not rank a statutory limitation on coverage as jurisdictional, courts should treat the restriction as nonjurisdictional in character.” (footnote omitted) (citation omitted)). 26 See, e.g., UTAH CODE § 34A-2-407(12)(a)–(b) (identifying claims within the “exclusive jurisdiction” of the Labor Commission “[s]ubject to appellate review”); id. § 78A-6-103(2) (identifying “exclusive jurisdiction” of juvenile courts over certain matters). 78 Cite as: 2017 UT 59 Lee, A.C.J., Opinion of the Court in part ¶ 145 It is also true that we have held that the filing of a notice of claim with the government is a statutory “prerequisite to vesting a district court with subject matter jurisdiction over claims against governmental entities.” Wheeler v. McPherson, 2002 UT 16, ¶ 9, 40 P.3d 632. But that does not at all mean that any statutory prerequisite to a successful tort claim is subject-matter jurisdictional. It means that our law treats the failure to file a notice of claim as a matter rendering the judicial proceeding unripe. This fits comfortably within the traditional notion of justiciability. A failure to file a claim with a non-judicial department of government can be understood to deem the judicial filing premature. And a premature filing can easily be viewed as a categorical defect that goes to subject-matter jurisdiction; it is subjectmatter jurisdictional in that it deems the non-judicial department the appropriate body to resolve the matter, and accordingly holds that the filing in court is premature. That is ultimately what our cases say. See Rushton v. Salt Lake Cty., 1999 UT 36, ¶¶ 18–21, 977 P.2d 1201 (“A notice of claim provides the entity being sued with the factual details of the incident that led to the plaintiff’s claim. Moreover, it ‘provide[s] the governmental entity an opportunity to correct the condition that caused the injury, evaluate the claim, and perhaps settle the matter without the expense of litigation.’” (alteration in original) (quoting Larson v. Park City Mun. Corp., 955 P.2d 343, 345–46 (Utah 1998)). We leave it at that, as doing so avoids the slippery slope introduced by the lead opinion. ¶ 146 The exhaustion cases are similar. They hold that a court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction where a plaintiff has failed to exhaust its avenues for relief in an administrative agency. See Hous. Auth. of Salt Lake v. Snyder, 2002 UT 28, ¶ 11, 44 P.3d 724. But again this is no broad conclusion that all legal preconditions to a successful claim are subjectmatter jurisdictional. It goes to traditional justiciability in the sense of ripeness. So our exhaustion cases similarly identify a categorical defect that goes to subject-matter jurisdiction. They conclude that a nonjudicial entity is the appropriate body to resolve the matter, and that a court lacks jurisdiction because the case belongs in an administrative proceeding and not in court.27 27 Our courts have not always framed this jurisdictional problem in these precise terms. But that is the conceptual essence of our cases. See Salt Lake City Mission v. Salt Lake City, 2008 UT 31, ¶ 14, 184 P.3d 599 (equating ripeness requirements in federal law with the requirement of (cont.) 79 Adoption of B.B. Lee, A.C.J., Opinion of the Court in part ¶ 147 We follow these precedents but do not extend them in the manner devised by the lead opinion. Doing so would expand on traditional conceptions of subject-matter jurisdiction in a manner that jeopardizes some central tenets of our justice system. 4. Systemic Costs and Slippery Slope ¶ 148 The lead opinion’s framework may appear to protect the interests of a sympathetic party. See supra ¶ 1 (expressing concerns about the “septic” nature of this case, infected by a birth mother who “perpetrated a fraud” and deprived a birth father of his chance to intervene to protect his interests). But it would do so at a substantial cost to the coherence of our law and to basic tenets of our judicial system—to the law of subject-matter jurisdiction, to rules of waiver and preservation, and to principles of finality and efficiency embedded deeply in our jurisprudence. Such costs are immediately apparent in administrative exhaustion); Tolman v. Logan City, 2007 UT App 260, ¶ 9, 167 P.3d 489 (“However, an as applied challenge does not become ripe until the challenging party has exhausted its administrative remedies and received a final decision from the relevant administrative agency.”). Our approach, moreover, is consistent with parallel case law in other jurisdictions. See Crow v. Penrose-St. Francis Healthcare Sys., 169 P.3d 158, 161 (Colo. 2007) (“Because the Hospital’s governing board has not rendered a final decision in his matter, Crow has not exhausted his available administrative remedies, and his case is not ripe for judicial review.”); Molo Oil Co. v. City of Dubuque, 692 N.W.2d 686, 693 (Iowa 2005) (“Exhaustion of one’s administrative remedies is a condition precedent to ripeness.”). We do not mean to suggest that administrative exhaustion is on all fours with the doctrine of ripeness. There are certainly conceptual differences between the two sets of principles. See Ticor Title Ins. Co. v. F.T.C., 814 F.2d 731, 734–35 (D.C. Cir. 1987) (identifying the overlap as well as differences between administrative exhaustion requirements and the doctrine of ripeness). But this is a coherent way to understand administrative exhaustion as subject-matter jurisdictional. And the lead opinion’s contrary view—treating exhaustion as jurisdictional because it is a legal prerequisite to the issuance of relief—would open a perilous slippery slope. 80 Cite as: 2017 UT 59 Lee, A.C.J., Opinion of the Court in part the adoption setting; but the decision proposed in the lead opinion would also reverberate in other fields. ¶ 149 If Justice Himonas’s view prevailed, it would be the judge’s duty (both in the district court and on appeal) to search the record for statutory prerequisites to an adoption that may not have been fulfilled. And whenever such a defect was found, the subject-matter jurisdiction of the adoption court would be in jeopardy. Such jeopardy would last for at least a year beyond the entry of the adoption decree. See supra ¶ 32 n.11. And throughout such proceedings, both in the district court and during any appeal, the parties could expect a more sluggish and less efficient disposition—as judges would be required to make ongoing assessments on issues heretofore left to the adversary system. All interested parties would suffer as a result. ¶ 150 The lead opinion purports to limit its rule to a specific prerequisite to the issuance of an adoption decree—to the validity of the birth mother’s consent. But the logic of its analysis sweeps more broadly. Any and all “case-specific procedural facts” would be eligible for classification as subject-matter jurisdictional. See supra ¶ 24. All that matters under the lead opinion is that the matter in question be an important precondition to the availability of the relief sought by the plaintiff. The possibilities for inclusion are endless.28 And the timeframe for upsetting a final adoption is potentially unlimited.29 28 Justice Himonas responds by insisting that we have identified “no situation in which a party would be able to use [his] opinion to ask a court to improperly expand subject matter jurisdiction to any statutory requirement.” Supra ¶ 29. But this misses our point—that the logic of the lead opinion sweeps broadly to encompass any “case-specific procedural fact[]” affecting the validity of the adoption decree. That premise forms the basis for the legal standard the lead opinion would apply in future cases. And lower courts would have to take the opinion seriously as long as it remained in place. So it’s possible that this court would hold the line—refusing to extend the standard Justice Himonas would announce today to other “case-specific procedural facts” affecting the validity of an adoption decree. But the lower courts would still be left to field any of a series of challenges to adoption decrees as long as the lead opinion’s theory remained. The lead opinion, after all, rests on no settled legal principle. It is based only on the insistence that consent is historically and logically (cont.) 81 Adoption of B.B. Lee, A.C.J., Opinion of the Court in part ¶ 151 Justice Himonas says that a defect in the mother’s consent deprives the district court of subject-matter jurisdiction because “absent consent,” the court is “without authorization to interfere with the fundamental right that is the parent-child relationship.” Supra ¶ 20. The lead opinion even goes so far as to say that without valid consent “no child has been made available for adoption.” Supra ¶ 27. ¶ 152 But that is an unvarnished judicial fiction. Of course there is a child to be adopted. We call him “B.B.” here to protect his anonymity. But he is a real child with a real interest in these proceedings. And he has been living with his would-be adoptive parents since just after his birth in 2014. Since that time all of these individuals have proceeded in important. And that would leave lower courts without any basis for discerning what other statutory requirements might properly be deemed a matter of equal importance. The slippery slope problem would remain, moreover, even assuming that “consent” problems are the only “case-specific procedural facts” that would be deemed to go to subject-matter jurisdiction. ICWA prescribes a range of requirements affecting a parent’s consent: that consent be given before a judge, 25 U.S.C. § 1913(a); that the judge engage in an adequate colloquy regarding the parent’s rights, id.; that the colloquy be fully understood, id.; that the judge certify that the colloquy was understood, id.; that the colloquy be interpreted where it might not be understood in English, id.; and that the consent not be improperly prohibited from being withdrawn, id. § 1913(c). And state law of course also regulates consent—by mothers and fathers. See, e.g., UTAH CODE § 78B-6-120; id. § 78B-6-120.1; id. § 78B- 6-121; id. § 78B-6-125. These and other elements of valid consent would seem to be “case-specific procedural facts” implicating subject-matter jurisdiction under the lead opinion’s theory. The lead opinion would thus invite litigation—and uncertainty and delay—on the question of whether these and other elements of “consent” may be questioned in a manner reopening an adoption that is otherwise final. 29 See supra ¶ 32 n.11 (acknowledging the possibility that the oneyear limitation on challenges to an adoption decree in Utah law, Utah Code section 78B-6-133(7)(b), may not apply in the face of a jurisdictional defect stemming from ICWA, and citing at least one case that supports that conclusion—Hughes v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co., 383 P.2d 55, 66 (Or. 1963)). 82 Cite as: 2017 UT 59 Lee, A.C.J., Opinion of the Court in part reliance on the finality of the order terminating the birth mother’s parental rights. They may not yet have an adoption decree. But they have rested easily on the conclusion that the birth mother no longer has a right to interfere with the adoption because her consent was deemed valid, her rights were terminated, and the time for questioning the basis for those decisions has long passed. So the lead opinion may say there is no child to be adopted, but all those who had anything to do with