Adoption can be revoked, even if application is submitted too late

TitleAdoption can be revoked, even if application is submitted too late

PubDate18/04/2023

CategoriesPerson-and familyright

AgencyCourt of Rotterdam

charactercase law

numberECLI:NL:RBROT:2023:2808 C/10/643763 / FA RK 22-5996

Summary

Anyone who has been adopted can 'revoke' the adoption. Legal conditions apply to this. But even if this is not met, for example if the request for revocation is submitted too late, the court can revoke the adoption.

A woman was born in India and adopted by Dutch parents. Later in life she asks the judge to revoke the adoption. She also wants to get rid of the family name she received when she was adopted. The Rotterdam District Court, which is dealing with the request, finds that the legal conditions for revocation of the adoption have not been met. Revocation must be in the interest of the adoptee, the court must see the reasonableness of the revocation and the request must have been submitted between the adoptee's 20th and 23rd year of life – no earlier and no later. This woman is 36.

Familylife

The woman invokes the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which includes the right to family life. She believes that the legal term for submitting the adoption application is in conflict with this right. According to her, her wish to break the family ties with her adoptive parents should outweigh the full application period. Moreover, she could not have submitted the request within the prescribed period, because she was not yet emotionally ready to have the adoption revoked due to childhood traumas.

Legal certainty

The court believes that setting this term guarantees legal certainty and protects the interests of those involved, such as the adoptive parents. The term is also intended to prevent purely material and even ignoble motives from playing a role. This is not the case in this case, according to the court. Furthermore, others than the woman, whose interests may be directly affected by the adoption revocation, are also involved in this procedure. The adoptive parents have no objection to the revocation. In this case, the court deems the legal term for submitting the revocation request to be incompatible with the ECHR. This means that the woman is receptive in her request.

Mismatch

The court recognizes that revocation of the adoption is reasonable and in the interest of the woman. There is a mismatch between her and the adoptive parents. As a result, the identity of the woman has not been able to develop properly. After revocation, she hopes to break free from the adoptive parents and to develop her own identity. The court grants the application for revocation of the adoption. Then the family-law relationship with adoptive parents ceases to exist and the legal relationship with the original family is revived. As a child, the woman did not yet have a family name, which is not uncommon in India. For that reason, the court also ruled that the woman's surname is not known.

ECLI:NL:RBROT:2023:2808

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