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Williams v. Williams

OCGA § 19-8-18 e provides that adoption decrees are not subject to any judicial challenge filed more than six months after entry of the decree and the biological mother, who was incarcerated at the time of the decree, waited 2 1/2 years after its entry to file her motion to reopen and set it aside.

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On February 28, 2005, the trial court entered an adoption decree granting Jennifer Williams’s petition to adopt her two stepchildren and terminating the parental rights of the children’s biological mother, April Williams a/k/a April Hindman. Therein, the trial court found that April Williams had not provided financial support for the children or seen them since the summer of 2002 and that she could not be found despite a diligent search. Earlier, the trial court had authorized April Williams to be served by publication. See OCGA § § 9-11-4 f 1 A setting forth requirements for service by publication; 19-8-10 c allowing service by publication of adoption petition. Two and a half years after the entry of the adoption decree, on September 27, 2007, April Williams moved under OCGA § 9-11-60 to reopen and set aside the adoption decree, arguing that at the time of the adoption proceeding she had been incarcerated, that Jennifer Williams could have discovered her whereabouts, and that the service by publication thus had been insufficient. The trial court held that the decree was void for lack of jurisdiction because April Williams had not been properly served, and it granted the motion to reopen and set aside the adoption. We granted interlocutory review of that order. We find that the trial court erred in reopening and setting aside the adoption because April Williams challenged the adoption decree more than six months after its entry, and accordingly we reverse.

OCGA § 19-8-18 e provides that “a decree of adoption issued pursuant to subsection b of this Code section shall not be subject to any judicial challenge filed more than six months after the date of entry of such decree.” Emphasis supplied. The adoption in this case was issued pursuant to subsection b, because it involved the surrender or termination of a biological parent’s rights. See OCGA § 19-8-18 b.

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