42-2-602. Necessity for parental rights to be terminated. A child is not legally free for adoption until the parental rights of the birth parent or parents have been terminated by a court:

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Terms Used In Montana Code 42-2-602

  • 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
  • Birth parent: means the woman who gave birth to the child or the father of genetic origin of the child. 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
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201

(1)as provided in this title;

(2)pursuant to Title 41, chapter 3; or

(3)of competent jurisdiction in another state or country.