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:

(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.

History: En. Sec. 72, Ch. 480, L. 1997; amd. Sec. 6, Ch. 257, L. 1999.