Background
J.T.S. and the children’s mother separated in 2019 and divorced three years later. The dissolution court ordered J.T.S. to pay $1,036 per month in child support plus $10,360 in arrears, awarded the mother sole decision-making responsibility, and granted him supervised parenting time. He was later found in punitive and remedial contempt for failing to pay support and served a ninety-day jail sentence.
After the mother married T.A.E., the stepfather petitioned in 2024 to adopt the three children. With the parties’ consent, a juvenile court magistrate heard the cases, terminated J.T.S.’s parental rights, and granted the adoptions. The magistrate found by clear and convincing evidence that J.T.S. had failed without cause to provide reasonable support for more than a year, was unlikely to provide reasonable future support, and had abandoned the children. J.T.S. appealed directly to the Colorado Court of Appeals.
The Court’s Holding
The Court of Appeals first held that it had jurisdiction over the direct appeal. Under the version of the Colorado Rules for Magistrates applicable to the case, the parties’ consent to magistrate jurisdiction made the judgment directly appealable under the Colorado Rules of Appellate Procedure. The statutory district-court-review procedure for certain juvenile matters did not cover stepparent adoptions under article 5 of the Children’s Code.
On the merits, the court held that the record supported the magistrate’s finding that J.T.S. failed without cause to provide reasonable support during the relevant year and was unlikely to provide support in the future. He paid only $555 during that year, owed more than $40,000 in arrears, and failed to comply with orders requiring him to turn over trust funds. The magistrate was entitled to reject his testimony as not credible and properly placed the clear-and-convincing-evidence burden on the stepfather. Because failure to provide reasonable support independently established the children’s availability for adoption, the court declined to address the separate abandonment finding and affirmed the judgment.
Key Takeaways
- Under the magistrate rules applicable here, a consensual magistrate judgment in a stepparent-adoption proceeding was directly appealable to the Court of Appeals without prior district court review.
- A parent’s failure without cause to provide reasonable support for at least one year can independently make a child available for adoption, provided the statutory requirements are proved by clear and convincing evidence.
- Appellate courts defer to the juvenile court’s credibility findings and will not reweigh evidence concerning a parent’s ability or willingness to provide support.
Why It Matters
The opinion explains both the appellate route for a stepparent-adoption judgment entered by consent of a magistrate under the pre-2026 magistrate rules and the evidence supporting termination based on nonsupport. The court cautioned that its jurisdictional analysis does not necessarily apply under the substantially amended magistrate rules governing orders issued on or after January 2, 2026.
The decision also confirms that nonsupport and abandonment are independent statutory grounds. Once the court upheld the nonsupport determination, it did not need to decide whether the evidence also established abandonment.