Jennifer T. v. Lindsay P.

Summary

The Nebraska Supreme Court considered whether a district court's consent to a stepparent adoption and stay of an in loco parentis custody action constituted final orders subject to appeal. The court held that neither order affected a substantial right or otherwise constituted a final order, and it dismissed the appeal for lack of appellate jurisdiction. The opinion also discusses in loco parentis status, jurisdictional priority, and the limited nature of consent under Nebraska's adoption statute.

Holdings

1. An order under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 43-104(1)(b) consenting to an adoption proceeding is not a final order because it merely permits the county court to entertain the adoption proceeding and does not determine the child's best interests or any other adoption issue.
2. A temporary stay of a custody action until further order is not a final, appealable order merely because it defers jurisdictional priority to another state court, even if the related adoption proceeding might eventually render the custody action moot.
3. The Nebraska Supreme Court lacked appellate jurisdiction because neither the consent order nor the stay order was a final order.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the district court's consent under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 43-104(1)(b) to a county court stepparent adoption proceeding was a final, appealable order.
2. Whether the district court's order staying the custody action until further order was a final, appealable order.
3. Whether either order affected a substantial right under Nebraska's final-order statute.

Disposition

dismissed