In The Matter Of J.J.J., A Minor

718 P.2d 948 (1986)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

The child's biological parents were divorced, and W got custody. H was ordered to pay $200 per month support and made no payments until three months later and then made a single payment and then no payments thereafter. Eventually, $1,000 of his wages were garnished and even after that he continued to pay nothing toward his son's support. In 1983, W and H1 wanted to adopt the child and informed H. Shortly before the adoption proceeding, H and his new wife paid $1,800 in child support arrearages but only after being contacted by the enforcement agency. H had almost no contact with his son but had informed W twice that he now wanted to visit his son. W had resisted H's request for unsupervised visitation after having no contact for such a long period of time. H refused consent to adoption by H1. The magistrate found that H had failed to support his son for one year and had thus lost his right to withhold consent to the adoption. The magistrate also found that the adoption would not be in the boy's best interests as he was curious about his father. The Superior Court sustained the lower court findings but overturned the best interest finding as clearly erroneous and that the adoption should be granted upon a proper finding that the biological father can be afforded visitation rights. This appeal resulted.