Which family court has exclusive jurisdiction over an action to invalidate or cancel an adoption, and which court hears it when both adoptive parents have died?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In a practice file we read the record of the adoption or adoptive relationship to identify the adoptive parents, and the papers showing each one's general forum; where both have died, a paper showing the last address of one of them, since the provision turns on that address alone.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading takes the provision at its word for every listed action: an action to invalidate an adoption, to cancel an adoption or an adoptive-child adoption, to dissolve an adoption, to dissolve the adoption of an adoptive child, or to invalidate or cancel such a dissolution belongs exclusively to the family court where one of the adoptive parents has a general forum, and where both are dead, to the family court where the last address of one of them lies.
Another reading notes that the provision keys jurisdiction to the 'adoptive parents' and their 'general forum' without defining either term, so for an action to invalidate an adoption the file must show that the parties qualify as adoptive parents and what establishes a general forum, and where the last address of one of the deceased cannot be shown it offers no substitute.
Your judgment
Where the file holds residence records for the adoptive parents made at different times, which of them shows the general forum this provision points to?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to define the general forum it turns on or to name a substitute where the last address is unknown, or if a court decision settles which address governs.