NC COA Case Summary: In the Matter of J.M.K
By Ryan Schultz
Termination of Parental Rights, No. COA18-451, Sept. 4, 2018
In the Matter of J.M.K
Buncombe County
In a termination of parental rights hearing, a court cannot base termination from a ground that has not been pled.
Facts: Mother and Father were in a relationship from February 2014 -September 2014. During their courtship, a daughter was conceived. While still pregnant in October 2014, Mother filed and obtained a domestic violence protective order against Father. In a chapter 50 hearing, Mother was awarded sole legal and sole physical custody of the child. No child support order was ever entered, and finding was ever made that Father was the child’s biological father. Mother filed a private termination of parental rights action, to which the trial court entered an order terminating Father’s parental rights.