Background
The Nanterre Judicial Court requested an advisory opinion in proceedings brought by Mr. D seeking the simple adoption of Mr. A, the adult child of Mr. D’s wife, who died on September 30, 2021. The request asked how France’s conflict-of-laws rules for adoption operate after the 2022 legislation defining an “international adoption” in Article 370-2 of the Civil Code.
The referring court asked whether Article 370-3 applies to every adoption involving a foreign element or only to an international adoption, as Article 370-2 defines that term, involving the cross-border movement of a minor. It also asked whether French law governs other foreign-connected adoptions and whether renvoi is permitted when the applicable foreign conflict rule refers the matter back to French law.
The Court’s Holding
The Court of Cassation advised that Article 370-3’s conflict-of-laws rules apply to all adoptions involving a foreign element. Their application is not confined to the narrower category defined by Article 370-2, which covers cases in which a minor is moved between France and another country for adoption. The 2022 legislation introduced that definition without amending the conflict rules enacted in 2001 or indicating that their scope should be narrowed.
The Court reasoned that a narrower interpretation would substantially expand the application of French law and could deprive Article 370-3’s statutory prohibitions of effect. Because this answer disposed of the premise underlying the second question, that question became moot.
The Court held the renvoi question inadmissible because it did not determine the pending case. The Portuguese provision invoked by the prospective adopter concerned adoption of a minor by a married couple. Here, the petition was filed in 2025 by one person after his wife’s death, even though he sought to adopt her adult child, so that Portuguese provision did not apply.
Key Takeaways
- Article 370-3 governs every adoption presenting a foreign element, not only cross-border adoptions of minors falling within Article 370-2.
- The 2022 definition of “international adoption” did not narrow the pre-existing French conflict-of-laws framework.
- The Court did not decide whether renvoi is generally permissible in adoption cases because the foreign conflict rule invoked was inapplicable to the underlying proceeding.
Why It Matters
The opinion preserves a broad role for conflict-of-laws analysis in French adoption proceedings. French courts must apply Article 370-3 whenever an adoption has a foreign element, including cases that do not involve moving a minor across national borders.
For practitioners, the decision also underscores that an advisory question must be necessary to resolve the pending dispute. The Court will not answer an abstract renvoi issue when the foreign rule said to produce the referral back to French law does not govern the facts before the referring court.