Missouri Laws 453.015 – Definitions
As used in sections 453.010 to 453.400, the following terms mean:
(1) “Minor” or “child”, any person who has not attained the age of eighteen years or any person in the custody of the children’s division who has not attained the age of twenty-one;
Terms Used In Missouri Laws 453.015
- following: when used by way of reference to any section of the statutes, mean the section next preceding or next following that in which the reference is made, unless some other section is expressly designated in the reference. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, and to partnerships and other unincorporated associations. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- State: when applied to any of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" includes such district and territories. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- Ward: if used in a section in a context relating to the property rights and obligations of a person, means a protectee as defined in chapter 475. See Missouri Laws 1.020
(2) “Parent”, a birth parent or parents of a child, including the putative father of the child, as well as the husband of a birth mother at the time the child was conceived, or a parent or parents of a child by adoption. The putative father shall have no legal relationship unless he has acknowledged the child as his own by affirmatively asserting his paternity;
(3) “Post adoption contact agreement”, a voluntary written agreement executed by one or both of a child’s birth parents and each adoptive parent describing future contact between the parties to the agreement and the child; provided, that such agreement shall be approved by the court under subsection 4 of section 453.080;
(4) “Putative father”, the alleged or presumed father of a child including a person who has filed a notice of intent to claim paternity with the putative father registry established in section 192.016 and a person who has filed a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity pursuant to section 193.087;
(5) “Stepparent”, the spouse of a biological or adoptive parent. The term does not include the state if the child is a ward of the state. The term does not include a person whose parental rights have been terminated.