Montana Code 42-2-609. Determination that no parent and child relationship exists
42-2-609. Determination that no parent and child relationship exists. For purposes of making a child available for adoption, the court may terminate the parental rights of a putative father on the grounds that the parent and child relationship does not exist if:
Terms Used In Montana Code 42-2-609
- Adoption: means the act of creating the legal relationship between parent and child when it does not exist genetically. See Montana Code 42-1-103
- Agency: means a child placement agency licensed by the state of Montana pursuant to Title 52, chapter 8, that is expressly empowered to place children preliminary to a possible adoption. See Montana Code 42-1-103
- Child: means any person under 18 years of age. See Montana Code 42-1-103
- Court: means a court of record in a competent jurisdiction and in Montana means a district court or a tribal court. See Montana Code 42-1-103
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Parent: means the birth or adoptive mother or the birth, adoptive, or legal father whose parental rights have not been terminated. See Montana Code 42-1-103
- Person: includes a corporation or other entity as well as a natural person. See Montana Code 1-1-201
(1)a judicial determination is made under 40-6-107 that the parent and child relationship does not exist. This includes the termination of the parental rights of the husband of the mother who is placing the child for adoption or the parental rights of an individual who is a presumed father of the child.
(2)a determination is made that:
(a)an individual has not timely registered with the putative father registry;
(b)an individual has not been adjudicated, in Montana, to be the father of the child for the purpose of child support;
(c)an individual has not been recorded on the child’s birth certificate as the child’s father;
(d)an individual has not openly lived with the child and the child’s mother at the time that the proceeding is initiated or at the time that the child was placed in the care of an authorized agency and an individual is not representing to the public that the individual is the child’s father; and
(e)the child’s mother was not married to the person who is the subject of the termination proceedings at the probable time of the child’s conception or at the time that the child was born; or
(3)a putative father appears at the hearing but is unable to establish by a preponderance of the evidence the minimum requirements provided in 42-2-610 for demonstrating the establishment of a substantial relationship with the child.