Background
A child was born in Thailand on October 24, 2019. Her biological parents consented before a notary in Singapore to her adoption by M. [X] and Mme [V]. On July 20, 2020, Singapore’s Family Justice Courts authorized the adoption.
After the Nantes public prosecutor refused to enter the Singapore decision in the French civil-status registers, the adoptive parents sued for exequatur in France. The Paris Court of Appeal denied recognition on May 6, 2025, having identified, among other defects, fraud affecting the foreign judgment’s international regularity. The adoptive parents appealed to the Court of Cassation.
The Court’s Holding
The Court of Cassation dismissed the appeal. It held that the Court of Appeal had properly balanced the competing public and private interests, with particular attention to the child’s interests in her specific circumstances, and could conclude that refusing exequatur did not disproportionately interfere with the private and family life of the child or the adoptive parents.
The adoption had been granted in Singapore without prior verification in Thailand, under the applicable Thai rules, of the child’s history and adoptability, the circumstances in which her biological parents consented, or whether the adoption plan suited her individual situation. Nor was the child’s future access to information about her history and origins guaranteed. The Court of Appeal could therefore find that recognition was not in her best interests, even though her present care within the adoptive family was not in question.
The child retained Thai nationality, could continue living with the adoptive parents in Singapore, and had not been shown to be unable to travel with them in Europe. The refusal also did not permanently foreclose establishing legal parentage in France once she reached adulthood, if she wished. Although the Court of Appeal had incorrectly suggested that the child could claim French nationality under Civil Code Article 21-12, that reasoning was superfluous and did not affect the result.
Key Takeaways
- A French court may refuse to recognize a foreign adoption affected by fraud or other defects in its international regularity.
- Refusal of recognition does not necessarily violate the right to private and family life; courts must conduct a concrete proportionality analysis centered on the child’s best interests.
- The absence of safeguards concerning adoptability, biological-parent consent, suitability of the adoption, and access to origins supported refusal of exequatur here.
Why It Matters
The decision shows that an established family life with adoptive parents does not by itself compel France to recognize a foreign adoption. French courts may give substantial weight to whether the adoption process respected the child-protection requirements of the child’s country of origin.
It also illustrates the Court of Cassation’s treatment of harmless reasoning: an erroneous but unnecessary statement about access to French nationality will not require reversal when the remaining findings independently support the proportionality determination.