In Re Adoption of Hupp

Defendant-father appeals from the probate court decision that his children’s stepfather could adopt his two minor children without his consent. The father challenges the probate court’s ruling that he had failed to communicate with his children without justifiable cause, so that his consent was no longer required for the adoptions pursuant to R.C. 3107.07(A). We agree with the father’s contentions, and we conclude that the stepfather’s adoption petition should have been dismissed for lack of jurisdiction absent the father’s consent. Therefore, we reverse.

I

Defendant and his former wife married…