Background
D.W. and A.D., an unmarried couple who have been in a relationship since 2007 and live together, petitioned to adopt T.J.W.-H. A.D. is the child’s maternal grandmother, and the child’s mother left him in A.D.’s care. The petitioners have had T.J.W.-H. in their home since he was four months old. He was three years old when the McKenzie County District Court held a hearing on the adoption petition in February 2026.
The child’s biological parents consented to the adoption and relinquished their parental rights, and no withdrawals of consent were filed. The district court found no reason to deny the adoption except the question whether two unmarried people can jointly adopt. It answered that question negatively, reasoning that one unmarried adult may adopt, but not two unmarried adults together. Noting that other district courts had reached different results, the court certified the question to the North Dakota Supreme Court under N.D.R.App.P. 47.1 and stayed the proceeding. The petitioners and the Department of Health and Human Services were aligned in arguing that N.D.C.C. § 14-15-03 permits an unmarried couple to adopt jointly.
The Supreme Court exercised its discretion to answer because the question was not frivolous, was determinative of the proceeding, and lacked controlling precedent. It distinguished K.L.T. v. Executive Director of Human Services Department, 2025 ND 76, where it had declined to answer a similar certified question after the adoption petition had been denied, the case dismissed, and the appeal period expired; answering there would have been purely advisory.
The Court’s Holding
The Court answered the certified question “no”: N.D.C.C. § 14-15-03 does not authorize an unmarried couple, or two unmarried adults, to adopt a child jointly. Because adoption is entirely a creature of statute, a court may issue a final decree only after determining that the statutory grounds have been satisfied. The issue was one of statutory interpretation and legislative intent as expressed in the statutory language, not a factual dispute about these petitioners’ suitability.
Section 14-15-03 lists who may adopt. Subsection 1 authorizes “[a] husband and wife together,” while subsection 2 authorizes “[a]n unmarried adult.” Other provisions address an unmarried father or mother and specified circumstances in which a married individual may adopt without the other spouse joining. The Court emphasized that “together” appears only in the provision for a husband and wife. Reading the statute as a whole, the remaining categories describe individual petitioners, and the selective inclusion and omission of “together” showed that the legislature did not intend unmarried adults to adopt together.
The Court rejected the argument that N.D.C.C. § 1-01-35, under which singular words generally include the plural, required “an unmarried adult” to mean multiple unmarried adults. That rule yields when a contrary intention plainly appears. Reading subsection 2 to permit joint adoption would add language the legislature omitted. It also would supply no textual limit on the number of petitioners or their relationships, potentially allowing two, three, or more unmarried adults—whether couples, cohabitants, or unconnected persons—to adopt together. The Court found that interpretation would produce an absurd and illogical result.
North Dakota enacted the 1969 Revised Uniform Adoption Act in 1971, reproducing its § 3 verbatim. The applicable 1969 commentary separately describes spouses acting together and an adult unmarried person adopting a child; it does not use the plural for unmarried persons. Commentary to the 1994 Uniform Adoption Act did not support the petitioners because North Dakota has not enacted that Act. The Court also found persuasive decisions from New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Wisconsin, and Wyoming rejecting joint adoption under similar language, while distinguishing contrary authorities that construed materially different statutes or did not analyze legislative intent.
Key Takeaways
- Section 14-15-03 permits one unmarried adult to adopt, but does not authorize two unmarried adults to file a joint adoption.
- The legislature’s use of “together” only for a husband and wife was central to the Court’s whole-statute interpretation.
- The general singular-includes-plural rule did not overcome the contrary intention apparent from the statute’s structure.
- A child’s best interests under N.D.C.C. § 14-15-13(3) are separate from the antecedent statutory question of who is eligible to adopt.
Why It Matters
The decision resolves differing answers among North Dakota district courts and establishes a statewide rule governing joint adoption petitions by unmarried couples. It does not decide that an unmarried adult cannot adopt individually, nor does it rest on a finding that these petitioners provided an unsuitable home. The district court had identified no other reason to deny their petition.
The Court declined to expand eligibility based on public policy or changing family structures, explaining that determining who may adopt is a legislative policy choice. If the legislature concludes that unmarried individuals should be permitted to adopt jointly under some or all circumstances, it may amend § 14-15-03. The opinion answers the certified legal question; it does not itself report a separate final decree or other disposition of the stayed adoption proceeding.