In re Adoption of K.R.S.

2024 UT App 165

THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS

IN THE MATTER OF THE ADOPTION OF K.R.S.,
A PERSON UNDER EIGHTEEN YEARS OF AGE.

C.R.S.,
Appellant,
v.
M.L. AND G.L.,
Appellees.

Opinion
No. 20230712-CA
Filed November 15, 2024

Sixth District Court, Manti Department
The Honorable Marvin D. Bagley
No. 222600005

Jason B. Richards and Alexandra Mareschal,
Attorneys for Appellant
Mark R. Nelson and Jessica Griffin Anderson,
Attorneys for Appellees

JUDGE RYAN M. HARRIS authored this Opinion, in which
JUDGES MICHELE M. CHRISTIANSEN FORSTER and
AMY J. OLIVER concurred.

HARRIS, Judge:

¶1 Orders terminating a parent’s rights are—when entered by
a juvenile court—generally held to be immediately appealable as
of right. The question presented in this case is whether parental
termination orders are immediately appealable as of right when
they are entered by a district court in the context of an adoption
proceeding, even if the court has not yet disposed of the
underlying adoption petition. We hold that they are not, and that
we therefore do not have jurisdiction—at this time and in this
In re adoption of K.R.S.

procedural posture—to consider the merits of C.R.S.’s (Father)
appellate challenge to the district court’s order terminating his
parental rights. Accordingly, we dismiss Father’s appeal.

BACKGROUND

¶2 Father is the biological father of K.R.S. (Child), who was
born in January 2019. For a time, Father cohabited with Child’s
mother, M.L. (Mother), but they never married; in October 2019,
Mother married G.L. (Stepfather). Child has resided with Mother
since birth, and with Mother and Stepfather since their marriage.

¶3 In 2021, Father filed a paternity action, and he eventually
obtained a court order establishing himself as Child’s father.
Under the terms of the ensuing decree of paternity, Mother was
awarded “sole legal custody” and “sole physical custody” of
Child, and Father was awarded “less than statutory minimum
supervised parent time.” However, Father apparently did not
fully exercise his parent-time rights; indeed, the district court in
this case found that “Child has never been alone with” Father and
that Father “made little to no effort to see or to establish a
relationship with [Child], seeing [Child] in person only when his
family members . . . requested a visit and via a rare video call.”

¶4 In November 2022, Stepfather filed a petition for adoption
in district court, asking for an order “establishing between”
himself and Child “the legal relationships of parent and child.” In
his petition, Stepfather alleged that he had developed a “strong
relationship” with Child and had become a father figure to him.
Based on these facts and others, Stepfather asserted that it was in
Child’s best interest for Stepfather to adopt him. Notice of the
pending adoption proceeding was served on Father, who
responded by asking for leave to intervene in the proceeding.
Stepfather did not oppose Father’s request, and the court granted
it, thus making Father a party to the adoption proceeding.

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¶5 Meanwhile, Stepfather and Mother (collectively,
Petitioners) filed a petition to terminate Father’s parental rights.
They filed this petition in district court in the already-pending
adoption action, and not as a separate proceeding. In their
termination petition, Petitioners asserted that several statutory
grounds existed to justify termination of Father’s rights, including
abandonment, neglect and abuse, unfitness, and token efforts. In
addition, they asserted that it was in Child’s best interest to have
Father’s parental rights terminated.

¶6 At the first hearing after the filing of the termination
petition, the court found Father to be indigent, and the court later
appointed an attorney from the local public defender’s office to
represent him. That attorney (Counsel) filed a document entitled
“General Denial,” which was apparently intended to function as
an answer to the termination petition. At a hearing in March 2023,
the court set a trial date for July 2023; Father confirmed, on the
record, that the date worked for him. Father was also present at
another hearing in April 2023; at that hearing, the court scheduled
a final pretrial conference to occur on June 7.

¶7 At the June 7 hearing, Counsel appeared, but Father did
not. Counsel asked to “withdraw as counsel” in the case because
Father had “not [been] engaging with” Counsel. In particular,
Counsel reported that he had been sending Father emails—which
Counsel believed to be “an effective workable communication
path” because he had communicated that way with Father in the
past—and that Father had been quite sporadic in responding. In
one of the responses Father did send, he indicated to Counsel that
he had “hired another attorney,” and Counsel reported that, since
that email, Father had not answered any of his messages. Counsel
lamented that he could “do no good for” Father if Father “does
not work with” Counsel.

¶8 After considering Counsel’s request, the court scheduled
another pretrial conference in two weeks, and it ordered Counsel

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to send Father an email “telling [Father] he ha[d] to be” at the
hearing in two weeks or else “he risk[ed] losing the case.” The
court also instructed its clerk to send independent notice of the
hearing to Father, including a warning that, if Father “[did] not
show up in person” at the hearing, “he risk[ed] having default
entered against him.” The clerk did indeed send such a notice.
And so did Counsel—his email to Father gave the date and time
of the hearing and stated, “If you do not appear IN PERSON [at
the hearing] the judge may ENTER DEFAULT JUDGMENT
AGAINST YOU.” Father responded to Counsel’s email by asking
“when is court,” and Counsel again provided the date and time.

¶9 At the hearing two weeks later, Father did not appear.
Counsel renewed his motion to withdraw. After hearing
argument from both sides, the court granted Counsel’s motion. In
addition, it found that Father either knew about the hearing or
was “intentionally preventing himself from knowing,” and that
he nevertheless chose not to attend. The court stated that, as a
consequence, it was “going to enter default” against Father.

¶10 In the ensuing weeks, Petitioners submitted a proposed
order of termination, accompanied by additional documentation,
including an affidavit from Mother setting forth facts supporting
the request. Father was served with a copy of these documents.
Eventually, after Father did not appear or object, the district court
entered an order of termination, including findings of fact and
conclusions of law.

¶11 In the order, the court found that Child had “never been
alone with” Father, that Father had “gone months at a time
without contact with” Child, and that Father had “made little to
no effort to see or to establish a relationship with Child.” The court
also found that Father had “made little effort to financially
support” Child. In addition, the court recited Father’s “extensive
criminal record,” his “history of habitual and excessive drug and
alcohol use,” and his “history of violent and erratic behavior.”

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Based on these findings, the court concluded that several
statutory grounds for termination were present, including
abandonment, neglect, and unfitness, as well as the fact that
Father had “made only token efforts to avoid being an unfit
parent.” Finally, the court concluded that it was strictly necessary
and in Child’s best interest for Father’s rights to be terminated.

¶12 This order, however, resolved only the petition for
termination of Father’s rights; it did not purport to resolve, and
did not resolve, the underlying petition for adoption that
Stepfather had filed to open the case. 1

¶13 A couple of weeks after the court issued its order, Father
filed a pro se notice of appeal, stating his intention to “appeal the
decision of the court” terminating his rights. He did not ask the
district court, pursuant to rule 54(b) of the Utah Rules of Civil
Procedure, to certify the challenged order as final. And he has not
asked us, pursuant to rule 5 of the Utah Rules of Appellate
Procedure, for permission to mount an interlocutory appeal.

ISSUE AND STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶14 In his appeal, Father attempts to challenge the propriety of
the district court’s order terminating his parental rights. He raises
both procedural and substantive objections to the order. But
before we engage with the merits of Father’s challenges, we must
first determine whether we have jurisdiction to entertain his
appeal. Because we conclude that we do not, the jurisdictional
issue is the only one we address in this opinion. “Whether this
court has jurisdiction over an appeal is a question of law that we

1. After filing his notice of appeal, Father asked the court to stay
the adoption proceedings during the pendency of his appeal, and
the court granted that motion. Thus, even now, the adoption
proceedings remain pending in district court.

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review for correctness.” TKS Co-Pack Mfg., LLC v. Wilson, 2024 UT
App 87, ¶ 32, 552 P.3d 258 (quotation simplified).

ANALYSIS

¶15 The rules governing a party’s ability to appeal a district
court’s order are relatively strict. “As a general rule, an appellate
court does not have jurisdiction to consider an appeal [from a
district court order] unless the appeal is taken from a final order
or judgment that ends the controversy between the litigants.”
Copper Hills Custom Homes, LLC v. Countrywide Bank, FSB, 2018 UT
56, ¶ 10, 428 P.3d 1133 (quotation simplified). This principle is
often called the “final judgment rule,” id. (quotation simplified),
and it mandates that, unless an exception applies, parties may
only “appeal a final order or judgment,” see Utah R. App. P.
3(a)(1), that “adjudicates all claims and the rights and liabilities of
all parties,” see Utah R. Civ. P. 54(a); see also In re Estate of Heater,
2021 UT 66, ¶ 13, 498 P.3d 883 (“For an appellate court to have
jurisdiction, there must be no claims pending below.” (quotation
simplified)); Bradbury v. Valencia, 2000 UT 50, ¶ 10, 5 P.3d 649 (“To
be final, the trial court’s order or judgment must dispose of all
parties and claims to an action.”).

¶16 The order Father attempts to challenge here—the order
terminating his parental rights—was not a final order, because it
did not “dispose of all parties and claims” in the adoption
proceeding. See Bradbury, 2000 UT 50, ¶ 10. To be sure, the
termination order did resolve all of Father’s claims in the adoption
proceeding; he will presumably have no involvement in the
litigation that remains, namely, whether to grant Stepfather’s
petition for adoption. But here, the relevant “action” is the
adoption proceeding within which the termination petition was
filed, see id., and the challenged termination order simply did not
resolve the claims of all parties to that action: Stepfather’s
adoption petition is part of that “action,” and it remains pending.

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¶17 Our supreme court has identified three exceptions to the
final judgment rule. See Copper Hills, 2018 UT 56, ¶ 12. The two
most common exceptions—interlocutory appeal pursuant to rule
5 of the Utah Rules of Appellate Procedure, and certification
pursuant to rule 54(b) of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure—are
not applicable here. Father did not ask us, within 21 days of the
entry of the termination order, for permission to appeal that
order. See Utah R. App. P. 5(a). And Father does not claim to have
yet asked the district court, at any point, to certify the termination
order as a final appealable order pursuant to rule 54(b).

¶18 The remaining “exception to the final judgment rule is
when the legislature provides a statutory avenue for appealing
nonfinal orders.” Copper Hills, 2018 UT 56, ¶ 13 (quotation
simplified). But our supreme court has limited this exception to
those “appeals that are expressly authorized by statute.” See Mellor
v. Wasatch Crest Mutual Ins., 2012 UT 24, ¶ 16, 282 P.3d 981
(emphasis added); see also In re adoption of C.C., 2021 UT 20, ¶ 23,
491 P.3d 859 (“Some nonfinal orders may trigger an immediate
appeal of right as expressly authorized by statute.” (quotation
simplified) (emphasis added)). Examples of orders that are
expressly authorized to be immediately appealed include “an
order denying a motion to compel arbitration,” Utah Code § 78B-
11-129(1)(a), “an order denying bail,” id. § 77-18a-1(1)(d), “an
order granting a new trial” in a criminal case, id. § 77-18a-1(3)(f),
and an order denying a “special motion for expedited relief” filed
pursuant to section 78B-25-103 of the Utah Code, id. §§ 78B-25-103,
109. In each case, a statute expressly authorizes immediate appeal.
See id. § 78B-11-129(1) (stating that “[a]n appeal may be taken
from” the enumerated orders); id. § 77-18a-1(1) (stating that “[a]
defendant may, as a matter of right, appeal from” the enumerated
orders); id. § 77-18a-1(3) (stating that “[t]he prosecution may, as a
matter of right, appeal from” the enumerated orders); id. § 78B-
25-109(1) (stating that “[a] moving party may appeal as a matter
of right from” the identified order).

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¶19 Here, Father argues that a statutory exception to the final
judgment rule can be found in section 78B-6-133(7) of the Utah
Code. That section provides that certain “limitations on
contesting an adoption,” as described in subsections (a) and (b) of
the section, “do not prohibit a timely appeal of . . . a decision in an
action challenging an adoption.” Id. § 78B-6-133(7)(d). But here,
no party contends that the specific limitations set out in
subsections (a) and (b) prevent Father from—eventually—filing
an appeal from the termination order once the adoption petition
is adjudicated. Indeed, no party contends that anything prevents
Father from, at some point, appealing the termination order. The
question presented is whether section 133(7) creates a statutory
exception to the final judgment rule, and we conclude that it does
not. Nothing in that statute purports to address the immediacy of
any appeal, or whether there exists a right to appeal “a decision
in an action challenging an adoption” at a point prior to the
completion of the entire action. Because our supreme court
requires that statutory exceptions to the final judgment rule be
express, and because no language in section 133(7) speaks of an
immediate appeal as of right, we reject Father’s assertion that the
identified statute contains an express exception to the well-
established final judgment rule.

¶20 Next, Father directs our attention to the statute discussing
district courts’ concurrent jurisdiction (with juvenile courts) over
termination of parental rights proceedings. See id. § 78B-6-112.
That section makes clear that district courts have jurisdiction to
entertain petitions to terminate a parent’s rights, but only if the
party that filed the petition is “seeking to terminate parental rights
. . . for the purpose of facilitating the adoption of the child.” Id.
§ 78B-6-112(1). And that statute instructs district courts that—in
cases where a petition for adoption is pending in the same case as
a petition for termination of parental rights—they “may enter a
final order terminating parental rights before a final decree of
adoption is entered.” Id. § 78B-6-112(3) (emphasis added). Father
emphasizes the word “final” as modifying “order terminating

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parental rights,” and he infers therefrom legislative intent to
create a statutory exception to the final judgment rule for “orders
terminating parental rights” in district court cases.

¶21 But in our view, no such exception is “express” enough on
the face of that statutory provision. As noted, our supreme court
requires that any such exception be “expressly authorized.” See
Mellor, 2012 UT 24, ¶ 16. And when our legislature wants to create
a statutory exception to the final judgment rule, it knows how to
do so plainly. See supra ¶ 18. Section 112(3) does not contain the
same sort of language our legislature typically uses when it
intends to create an express statutory exception to the final
judgment rule. And here, the words “final order” do not
necessarily connote immediate appealability; rather, the
provision may just be an indication of district court discretion to
decide the termination issues, in a way that the affected parent
can no longer contest, before adjudicating the underlying
adoption petition. Given our supreme court’s requirement that
statutory exceptions be expressly authorized, and given the far
more express language of existing statutory exceptions, we are
simply unwilling—in the absence of clearer legislative intent—to
read section 112(3) as an exception to the final judgment rule. 2

¶22 Thus, under the law applicable to the finality of orders and
judgments rendered in district court proceedings, we have no
jurisdiction over this appeal. Under those standards, the order
terminating Father’s rights is a nonfinal order, and none of the
established exceptions to the final judgment rule apply. In such

2. To the extent that we misperceive legislative intent on this
point, we note that our legislature is of course free to clarify the
issue, either by inserting more express language into section
112(3), or by listing, in one of the other existing statutory lists, see
supra ¶ 18, “parental rights termination orders issued by a district
court” as one of the ordinarily nonfinal orders that may be
immediately appealed as of right.

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situations, our only recourse is to dismiss the appeal. See Hillam v.
Hillam, 2022 UT App 24, ¶ 25, 507 P.3d 380 (stating that when we
do not have jurisdiction, “we cannot fabricate the power to hear a
case” (quotation simplified)); NPEC, LLC v. Miller, 2019 UT App
175, ¶ 8, 453 P.3d 654 (per curiam) (stating that when we “lack[]
appellate jurisdiction,” we “must dismiss the appeal”).

¶23 Father resists this conclusion by inviting us to apply—in
this district court appeal—the appellate finality standards
applicable in juvenile court appeals. In those cases, appeals as of
right “may be heard from more than one final judgment” in the
same case, and therefore appellate finality is determined not by
strict adherence to the final judgment rule but, instead, by a
“pragmatic analysis” of the challenged order. See In re A.F., 2006
UT App 200, ¶¶ 8–9, 138 P.3d 65 (quotation simplified), aff’d, 2007
UT 69, 167 P.3d 1070; see also In re J.E., 2023 UT App 3, ¶ 19, 524
P.3d 1009 (“[I]t is fair to say that, in appeals from juvenile court,
finality is viewed somewhat more flexibly than in the district
court context.”). In district court, the touchstone for appellate
finality is whether the challenged order “dispose[s] of all parties
and claims to an action.” See Bradbury, 2000 UT 50, ¶ 10. In juvenile
court, by contrast, “the determining factor in deciding if an order
is final and appealable is whether it effects a change in the
permanent status of the child.” In re K.F., 2009 UT 4, ¶ 36, 201 P.3d
985 (quotation simplified).

¶24 Applying this more flexible and pragmatic approach, our
supreme court has determined that orders terminating a parent’s
rights that are entered by a juvenile court are final and
immediately appealable. See, e.g., In re A.F., 2007 UT 69, ¶ 3, 167
P.3d 1070 (stating, in a juvenile court case, that an order of
“termination of parental rights is final and appealable because it
constitutes a change in the child’s status in that it changes the
child’s legal relationship with his or her parents”). Father directs
our attention to this case law, and he asserts that the same rule

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applicable to termination orders issued by juvenile courts should
also be applicable to termination orders issued by district courts.

¶25 Father’s position makes sound logical sense. Indeed, not
even Petitioners offer any good policy reason why the appellate
finality of parental termination orders should differ depending on
whether the order was issued by a juvenile court or a district
court. As Father points out, once a parent’s rights are terminated
by a district court in an adoption case, that parent no longer has
access to the court file, and may therefore have a hard time even
finding out when the right to appeal springs into being (when the
adoption petition is adjudicated). And Father also notes that, even
in district court, termination petitions can (but need not) be filed
as a separate proceeding “before or after” an adoption petition is
filed. See Utah Code § 78B-6-112(2)(b). He observes that, in such
situations, resolution of the termination petition may well resolve
all claims by all parties to that separate proceeding and that the
order resolving the petition may therefore be final, and he posits
that the statutory scheme thus puts some measure of control over
the appellate finality of a termination order in the hands of the
party filing the termination petition.

¶26 In our view, Father raises solid policy arguments. Father’s
problem, though, is that we are not policymakers. See In re A.G.,
2022 UT App 126, ¶ 24, 522 P.3d 31 (“We, as judges, are not
policymakers, and . . . when interpreting statutes it is not our task
to weigh competing policy considerations.” (quotation
simplified)). As we understand the law, the final judgment rule
controls appellate finality in district court, subject to established
exceptions. And our legislature has not yet seen fit to make
“termination orders issued by a district court” one of the
identified statutory exceptions.

¶27 Our view of the situation is bolstered by our examination
of two relatively recent cases from our supreme court. In In re
adoption of C.C., a putative father asked to intervene in a district

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court adoption proceeding, asserting that he was the “presumed”
father because he had been in a marriage relationship with the
child’s mother and the child had been born “within 300 days
after” the termination of that relationship. 2021 UT 20, ¶ 12, 491
P.3d 859 (quotation simplified). The motion to intervene was
granted, making the putative father “a full-fledged party to the
proceeding in every respect.” Id. ¶¶ 13, 27. The prospective
adoptive parents then filed a summary judgment motion, “asking
the court to conclude as a matter of law that [the putative father]
could not qualify as the presumed father” under applicable law.
Id. ¶ 13. The court eventually granted that motion, concluding that
the putative father was not the “presumed father” as a matter of
law, and entering an order “dismissing him” from the case. Id.
¶ 14. At the time the court entered that order, it had not yet
adjudicated the putative adoptive parents’ petition for adoption.
Id. ¶ 15. The issue was thus presented to our supreme court as to
whether the district court’s order dismissing the putative father
from the case was a final appealable order. Id. ¶ 19.

¶28 Our supreme court held that it was not. Citing rule 54(a),
the court noted that the order—because it did not resolve the
adoption petition—did not “adjudicate[] all claims and the rights
and liabilities of all parties” to the proceeding and was therefore
not a final order subject to immediate appeal as of right. Id. ¶ 21
(quotation simplified). The court then considered whether any
“exception” to the final judgment rule might be applicable, and it
noted that “[a]n order of parental termination may trigger an
immediate appeal of right when entered in the juvenile court.” Id.
¶ 24. But the court drew a distinction, as concerns appealability of
orders, between juvenile court proceedings and district court
proceedings, and it stated that the statutes and case law providing
for appealability of termination orders issued by a juvenile court
“appl[y] only to orders entered in the juvenile court.” Id.

¶29 In addition, the court noted that the putative father had
been allowed to intervene in the case, which allowed him “to

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participate as a party” and put him “on equal footing with all
other parties.” Id. ¶ 25. And given that he was “a full-fledged
party to the proceeding” and that the order was not a final order,
“his subsequent dismissal from the action could not trigger an
immediate appeal of right unless the decision was certified for
immediate appeal under civil rule 54(b).” Id. ¶ 27.

¶30 The other recent case that informs our analysis is In re Estate
of Heater, 2021 UT 66, 498 P.3d 883. In that case, our supreme court
was asked to decide whether to continue to apply a “pragmatic
approach to determining finality in probate matters” litigated in
district court. Id. ¶ 16. The court discussed the final judgment rule
ordinarily applicable in district court proceedings, and it
observed that some previous Utah appellate decisions supported
the notion that the final judgment rule should be relaxed—and a
more “pragmatic approach” taken—in probate cases. Id. The court
emphatically rejected and “disavow[ed]” the earlier case law,
stating that these cases “are in conflict with rule 5 of the Utah
Rules of Appellate Procedure and rule 54(b) of the Utah Rules of
Civil Procedure,” which rules the court viewed as “controlling.”
Id. ¶¶ 17, 19. The court took the opportunity to “clarify that a
nonfinal order in a probate case may be appealed only through
the mechanisms delineated in our civil and appellate rules or
statutory exemptions.” Id. ¶ 19.

¶31 While neither In re adoption of C.C. nor In re Estate of Heater
involved an order terminating a parent’s rights, we discern in
these two cases a strong signal from our supreme court that the
final judgment rule and its heretofore-identified exceptions are to
be strictly applied in appeals arising from district court orders,
and that judicially created exceptions to the final judgment rule in
this context are disfavored. In particular, the court noted that
termination orders are appealable in juvenile court, but that the
statutes and case law allowing for that were applicable “only to
orders entered in the juvenile court.” See In re adoption of C.C., 2021
UT 20, ¶ 24. With this guidance in mind, we respectfully decline

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Father’s invitation to apply juvenile court finality rules in the
district court context, or to create a pragmatic or policy-based
exception to the final judgment rule for termination orders
entered in the context of a district court adoption case.

¶32 Father is not without a potential remedy here, though: he
is and remains free to seek rule 54(b) certification from the district
court. It is noteworthy that, in the cases we have just discussed,
our supreme court suggested this option to litigants frustrated by
the strictures of the final judgment rule. See In re Estate of Heater,
2021 UT 66, ¶ 19 (stating that the litigant “should have pursued
an interlocutory appeal or sought a [rule] 54(b) certification from
the district court judge”); In re adoption of C.C., 2021 UT 20, ¶ 29
(noting that “[o]ne or more of the parties could have sought
certification under rule 54(b),” and offering its view that, “with
the benefit of hindsight, such a course may have been the better
option in a case like this one”). Indeed, in In re adoption of C.C., the
court stated that, “in future cases” in which a putative father is
dismissed from an ongoing adoption case in district court, rule
54(b) “certification may well be appropriate where there is a
perceived risk of delay or disruption of the establishment of a
child’s placement for adoption.” 2021 UT 20, ¶ 29.

¶33 We likewise take the opportunity to observe that—unless
and until an express statutory exception to the final judgment rule
is created in this context, see supra note 2—cases like this one might
well be prime candidates for rule 54(b) certification. Termination
orders in this context will often completely resolve the claims of
one party to the action; there will often be little if any “factual
overlap” between the termination issues and the remaining
adoption issues; and there will often not be any “just reason for
delay[ing]” a parent’s right to appeal the termination order. See
Hillam, 2022 UT App 24, ¶¶ 16–18 (quotation simplified); see also
Utah R. Civ. P. 54(b). We therefore encourage district courts to
carefully consider requests for rule 54(b) certification made by

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parents whose rights have been terminated in an interlocutory
order entered in an adoption case.

CONCLUSION

¶34 Under the standards governing appellate finality in district
court proceedings, the district court’s interlocutory order
terminating Father’s parental rights was not a final order, and no
statutory exception to the final judgment rule is applicable. And
we decline Father’s invitation to create a policy-based exception,
drawn from the juvenile court context, to the final judgment rule
applicable in district court. Accordingly, we lack jurisdiction—at
this time and in this procedural posture—to entertain the merits
of Father’s challenge to the district court’s termination order. We
therefore dismiss Father’s appeal for lack of jurisdiction.

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