Rule 3.808.Finalizing Adoption; Findings of Court

MCR 3.808 is the last checkpoint before an adoption becomes final. Its work is to keep a decree from landing on a case that is still moving. Before the court enters a final order of adoption, it has to satisfy itself that nothing about the termination of parental rights is unfinished, and it has to put that conclusion on the record.

The determination

The rule directs the trial court to determine that the adoptee is not the subject of any pending proceedings on rehearing or reconsideration, or on appeal from a decision to terminate parental rights. Three kinds of unfinished business are named together: rehearing, reconsideration, and appeal. The question is framed around the adoptee's case, not around who filed which paper.

Findings on the record

The second half turns that determination into a record. The trial court must make three findings, and they are cumulative rather than alternative:

• that any appeal of the decision to terminate parental rights has reached disposition;
• that no appeal, application for leave to appeal, or motion for rehearing or reconsideration is pending; and
• that the time for all appellate proceedings in this matter has expired.

The second finding names an appeal and an application for leave to appeal separately. They are different filings, and the rule blocks a final order while either one sits open, as it does for a motion for rehearing or a motion for reconsideration.

Silence is not enough

The third finding is the one that does the most work. An empty docket does not satisfy it. The court has to find that the time for all appellate proceedings in this matter has expired, so a final order cannot be entered during a window in which someone could still start an appeal. The first two findings look at what has been filed; the third looks at what could still be filed.

Who carries the duty

The duty sits with the trial court, and the rule attaches it to the moment before entry of the final order. Nothing in the rule makes the check depend on a party raising the point or filing a motion. The findings are to be made on the record, which leaves a record of what the court found at the one moment an adoption becomes permanent.

The rule takes no position on what the court should do if the answer is no. It states the condition for entering the final order and the findings that show the condition is met.