Title FAM, California Fam. Code

(a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares as follows: (1) There is a compelling state interest in establishing parentage for all children. Establishing parentage is the first step toward a child support award, which, in turn, provides children with equal rights and access to …

(a) On and after January 1, 1995, upon the event of a live birth, prior to an unmarried mother or a mother who gave birth to a child conceived through assisted reproduction leaving a hospital, the person responsible for registering live births under Section 102405 of the Health a…

(a) The Department of Child Support Services, in consultation with the State Department of Health Care Services, the California Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, and other affected health provider organizations, shall work cooperatively to develop written materials to …

(a) The following persons may sign a voluntary declaration of parentage to establish the parentage of the child: (1) An unmarried woman who gave birth to the child and another person who is a genetic parent. (2) A married or unmarried woman who gave birth to the child and another…

(a) A voluntary declaration of parentage is void if, at the time of signing, any of the following are true: (1) A person other than the woman who gave birth to the child or a person seeking to establish parentage through a voluntary declaration of parentage is a presumed parent u…

(a) The voluntary declaration of parentage shall be executed on a form developed by the Department of Child Support Services in consultation with the State Department of Public Health and groups addressing child support, child custody, assisted reproduction issues, and lesbian, g…

(a) Either parent may rescind the voluntary declaration of parentage by filing a rescission form with the Department of Child Support Services within 60 days of the date of execution of the declaration by the attesting parents, whichever signature is later, unless a court order f…

(a) After the period for rescission provided in Section 7575 expires, but not later than two years after the effective date provided in subdivision (c) of Section 7573 of a voluntary declaration of parentage, a signatory of the voluntary declaration of parentage may commence a pr…

The following rules apply in an action to challenge a valid voluntary declaration of parentage brought by a person who is not a signatory to the declaration. This section does not apply to a voluntary declaration of parentage that is void under Section 7573.5. (a) A person has st…

(a) Every signatory to a voluntary declaration of parentage shall be made a party to a proceeding to challenge the declaration. (b) By signing a voluntary declaration, a signatory submits to personal jurisdiction in this state in a proceeding to challenge the declaration, effecti…

(a) Notwithstanding subdivision (c) of Section 7573, a voluntary declaration of parentage that is signed by a minor parent does not establish parentage until 60 days after both signatories have reached 18 years of age or are emancipated, whichever first occurs. (b) A person who s…

The following provisions shall apply for voluntary declarations signed on or before December 31, 1996. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (d), the child of a woman and a man executing a declaration of paternity under this chapter is conclusively presumed to be the man’s child.…

(a) A person who has sexual intercourse or causes conception with the intent to become a legal parent by assisted reproduction in this state, or who enters into an assisted reproduction agreement for gestational carriers in this state, thereby submits to the jurisdiction of the c…

Except as provided in Section 781 and subject to the rules of allocation set forth in Section 2603, money and other property received or to be received by a married person in satisfaction of a judgment for damages for personal injuries, or pursuant to an agreement for the settlem…

(a) Money or other property received or to be received by a married person in satisfaction of a judgment for damages for personal injuries, or pursuant to an agreement for the settlement or compromise of a claim for those damages, is the separate property of the injured person if…

(a) Where an injury to a married person is caused in whole or in part by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of the person’s spouse, the community property may not be used to discharge the liability of the tortfeasor spouse to the injured spouse or the liability to make con…

In addition to any other remedy authorized by law, when a spouse is convicted of attempting to murder the other spouse, as punishable pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 664 of the Penal Code, or of soliciting the murder of the other spouse, as punishable pursuant to subdivisi…

If a married person is injured by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of a person other than the married person’s spouse, the fact that the negligent or wrongful act or omission of the spouse of the injured person was a concurring cause of the injury is not a defense in an …

(a) The Legislature finds and declares that an attorney’s ability to effectively represent a client may be seriously impaired when conflict of interest deprives the client of the attorney’s undivided loyalty and effort. The Legislature further finds and declares that the relation…

(a) The selection of a prospective adoptive parent or parents shall be personally made by the child’s birth parent or parents and may not be delegated to an agent. The act of selection by the birth parent or parents shall be based upon personal knowledge of the prospective adopti…

A child shall not be considered to have been placed for adoption unless each of the following is true: (a) Each birth parent placing the child for adoption has been advised of their rights, and if desired, has been counseled pursuant to Section 8801.5. (b) The adoption service pr…

(a) Each birth parent placing a child for adoption shall be advised of their rights by an adoption service provider. (b) The birth parent shall be advised of their rights in a face-to-face meeting in which the birth parent may ask questions and have questions answered, as provide…

(a) An adoption service provider shall also witness the signature of the adoption placement agreement and offer to interview the birth parent after the placement of the child with prospective adoptive parents. The interview shall occur within 10 working days after the placement o…

(a) Any of the following adult persons who desire to adopt a child may, for that purpose, file an adoption request in a county authorized by Section 8609.5: (1) A person who is related to the child or the child’s half sibling by blood or affinity, including all relatives whose st…

(a) During the pendency of an adoption proceeding: (1) The child proposed to be adopted shall not be concealed from the agency that is investigating the adoption, or from the court with jurisdiction over the adoption proceeding. (2) The child shall not be removed from the county …

(a) Whenever the petitioners move to withdraw the petition for the adoption or to dismiss the proceeding, the clerk of the court in which the proceeding is pending shall immediately notify the department at Sacramento of the action. The department or the delegated county adoption…

At the hearing, if the court sustains the recommendation of the department or delegated county adoption agency that the child be removed from the home of the petitioners because the department or agency recommends denial or if the petitioners move to withdraw the petition or if t…

The department or delegated county adoption agency shall accept the consent of the birth parents to the adoption of the child by the petitioners and, before filing its report with the court, shall ascertain whether the child is a proper subject for adoption and whether the propos…

(a) Except as provided in subdivisions (b) and (c), within 180 days after receiving 50 percent of the fee, the department or delegated county adoption agency shall investigate the proposed independent adoption and, after the remaining balance of the fee is paid, submit to the cou…

(a) The department or delegated county adoption agency shall interview the petitioners within 45 working days, excluding legal holidays, after the department or delegated county adoption agency receives 50 percent of the investigation fee together with a stamped file copy of the …

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, whenever a petition is filed under this chapter for the adoption of a child, the petitioner shall pay a nonrefundable fee to the department or to the delegated county adoption agency for the cost of investigating the adoption peti…

(a) The department or delegated county adoption agency shall require each person who files an adoption petition to be fingerprinted and shall secure from an appropriate law enforcement agency any criminal record of that person to determine if the person has ever been convicted of…

(a) A licensed private or public adoption agency of the state of the petitioners’ residency may certify prospective adoptive parents by a preplacement evaluation that contains a finding that an individual is suited to be an adoptive parent. (b) The preplacement evaluation shall i…

Any request by a birth parent or birth parents for payment by the prospective adoptive parents of attorney’s fees, medical fees and expenses, counseling fees, or living expenses of the birth mother shall be in writing. The birth parent or parents shall, by first-class mail or oth…

At or before the time a consent to adoption is signed, the department or delegated county adoption agency shall advise the birth parent signing the consent, verbally and in writing, that the birth parent may, at any time in the future, request from the department or agency, all k…

(a) Except as provided in Section 7662, the consent of the birth parent or parents who did not place the child for adoption, as described in Section 8801.3, to the adoption shall be signed in the presence of an agent of the department or of a delegated county adoption agency on a…

(a) After a consent to the adoption is signed by the birth parent or parents pursuant to Section 8801.3 or 8814, the birth parent or parents signing the consent shall have 30 days to take one of the following actions: (1) Sign and deliver to the department or delegated county ado…

(a) Once the revocable consent to adoption has become permanent as provided in Section 8814.5, the consent to the adoption by the prospective adoptive parents may not be withdrawn. (b) Before the time when the revocable consent becomes permanent as provided in Section 8814.5, the…

In an independent adoption where the consent of the birth parent or parents is not necessary, the department or delegated county adoption agency shall, before the hearing of the petition, file its consent to the adoption with the clerk of the court in which the petition is filed.…

(a) A written report on the child’s medical background, and if available, the medical background of the child’s biological parents so far as ascertainable, shall be made by the department or delegated county adoption agency as part of the study required by Section 8806. (b) The r…

(a) The department shall adopt a statement to be presented to the birth parents at the time the consent to adoption is signed and to prospective adoptive parents at the time of the home study. The statement shall, in a clear and concise manner and in words calculated to ensure th…

When the parental rights of a birth parent are terminated pursuant to Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 7660) of Part 3 of Division 12 or Part 4 (commencing with Section 7800) of Division 12, the department or delegated county adoption agency shall send a written notice to the b…

(a) The birth parent or parents or the petitioner may appeal in either of the following cases: (1) If for a period of 180 days from the date of paying 50 percent of the fee, or upon the expiration of any extension of the period granted by the court, the department or delegated co…

When any report or findings are submitted to the court by the department or a delegated county adoption agency, a copy of the report or findings, whether favorable or unfavorable, shall be given to the petitioner’s attorney in the proceeding, if the petitioner has an attorney of …

(a) If the findings of the department or delegated county adoption agency are that the home of the petitioners is not suitable for the child or that the required consents are not available and the department or agency recommends that the petition be denied, or if the petitioners …

The prospective adoptive parents and the child proposed to be adopted shall appear before the court pursuant to Sections 8612 and 8613. (Enacted by Stats. 1992, Ch. 162, Sec. 10. Operative January 1, 1994.)