Alabama’s current adoption code was ratified in 1991 and has served the State and its families and its children well. But, it’s days are numbered. On December 31, 2023, it will be retired and the new and improved adoption code will go live on January 1, 2024.
There are trainings being held across the State to help adoptive parents, attorneys, social workers, and judges understand the new adoption code. In addition to in-person trainings, The Adoption Law Firm will try to provide a steady drip of the more impactful changes.
Venue. You always have it, but it’s not always proper. Venue is the doctrine which determines the proper location in which to initiate a legal proceeding.
The new adoption code under Section 26-10E-4 is basically unchanged from the prior adoption code. Venue is proper where the adoptee was born or resides. Venue is proper where a petitioner resides. Venue is also proper in a county that has an office of an agency with custody. That’s all basically the same from the old adoption code.
What’s new for Alabama is an equitable venue provision. A petition may be filed in any county if there is good cause, no party objects within 30 days of service, or the court determines it’s in the adoptee’s best interest to maintain venue.
And that’s equitable venue with the new adoption code.
Alabama’s New Adoption Code – Probate Court’s Power to Adjudicate Paternity
