TITLE 19 DOMESTIC RELATIONS

Section 8. Adoption, 19-8-1 through 19-8-43.

ARTICLE 1 GENERAL PROVISIONS (EFFECTIVE UNTIL SEPTEMBER 1, 2018)

19-8-22. (Effective September 1, 2018) Recognition and effect of order by court or administrative body within or outside United States.

A decree of a court or an administrative proceeding terminating the relationship of parent and child, establishing the relationship of guardian and ward, or establishing the relationship of parent and child by adoption, issued pursuant to due process of law by a court or administrative body of any other jurisdiction within or outside the United States, or the clear and irrevocable release or consent to adoption by the guardian of a child when the appointment of the guardian has been certified by the appropriate and legally authorized court or agency of the government of the foreign country, shall be recognized in this state; and the rights and obligations of the parties as to matters within the jurisdiction of this state shall be determined as though any such decree were issued by a court of this state and any such consent or release shall be deemed to satisfy the requirements of Code Sections 19-8-4, 19-8-5, 19-8-6, 19-8-7, 19-8-8, and 19-8-12.
Any adoption proceeding in this state in which a final order of adoption was entered by the court prior to April 1, 1986, and to which subsection (a) of this Code section would have been applicable if said subsection had been effective at the time such proceeding was filed or concluded shall be governed by subsection (a) of this Code section.

(Code 1981, §19-8-22, enacted by Ga. L. 1990, p. 1572, § 5; Ga. L. 2018, p. 19, § 1-1/HB 159.)

Delayed effective date.

- For information as to the delayed amendment of this article, see the delayed effective date note at the beginning of this article.

The 2018 amendment, effective September 1, 2018, in subsection (a), inserted "or an administrative proceeding" near the beginning, inserted ", establishing the relationship of guardian and ward,", inserted "or administrative body" near the middle, substituted "when the appointment" for "where the appointment" in the middle, and inserted a comma following "foreign country"; in subsection (b), deleted ", as amended," following "subsection" in the middle, deleted "the provisions of" following "governed by" near the end, and deleted ", as amended" at the end; and deleted former subsection (c), which read: "Any adoption proceeding pending in a court of competent jurisdiction in this state in which no final order of adoption has been entered as of April 1, 1986, to which the provisions of subsection (a) of this Code section are applicable shall be governed by the provisions of subsection (a) of this Code section, as amended."

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Editor's notes.

- In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under Ga. L. 1941, p. 300, § 11, prior to revision of the chapter by Ga. L. 1977, p. 201, are included in the annotations for this Code section.

Status acquired by adoption is determined by state creating adoption.

- Status acquired by adoption, like that acquired by marriage, is a personal one, and the adoption's validity is conclusively determined by law of state creating the adoption, and if validly created there it will be recognized and given effect here though procedure by which it was created under foreign law is different from that required here. Watson v. Watson, 208 Ga. 512, 67 S.E.2d 704 (1951) (decided under Ga. L. 1941, p. 300, § 11 prior to revision of chapter by Ga. L. 1977, p. 201).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 2 Am. Jur. 2d, Adoption, § 36 et seq.

C.J.S.

- 2 C.J.S., Adoption of Persons, § 139.

ALR.

- Conflict of laws as to adoption as affecting descent and distribution of decedent's estate, 87 A.L.R.2d 1240.

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