LD 1526
pg. 108
Page 107 of 118 An Act To Enact the Uniform Parentage Act and Conforming Amendments and Additio... Page 109 of 118
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LR 134
Item 1

 
of the indigent party. The attorney may not be the attorney for
the adoptive parents.

 
(b) When the adoptee is unrelated to the petitioner, the
court shall appoint an attorney who is not the attorney for the
adoptive parents to represent a minor indigent biological parent
at every stage of the proceedings unless the minor biological
parent refuses representation or the court determines that
representation is unnecessary.

 
Sec. D-5. 18-A MRSA §9-201, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 694, Pt. C, §7
and affected by Pt. E, §2, is amended to read:

 
§9-201. Establishment of parentage

 
(a) When the biological mother of a child born out of wedlock
wishes to consent to the adoption of the child or to execute a
surrender and release for the purpose of adoption of the child
and the a putative father parent has not consented to the
adoption of the child or joined in a surrender and release for
the purpose of adoption of the child or waived his the right to
notice, the biological mother must file an affidavit of paternity
parentage with the judge of probate so that the judge may
determine how to give notice of the proceedings to the any
putative father parent of the child.

 
(b) If the judge finds from the affidavit of the biological
mother that the a putative father's parent's whereabouts are
known, the judge shall order that notice of the mother's intent
to consent to adoption or to execute a surrender and release, or
the mother's actual consent or surrender and release, for the
purpose of adoption of the child, be served upon the putative
father parent of the child. If the judge finds that the putative
father's parent's whereabouts are unknown, then the court shall
order notice by publication in accordance with the Maine Rules of
Probate Procedure. If the biological mother does not know or
refuses to tell the court who the biological father any putative
parent is, the court may order publication in accordance with the
Maine Rules of Probate Procedure in a newspaper of general
circulation in the area where the petition is filed, where the
biological mother became pregnant or where the putative father
parent is most likely to be located. The notice must specify the
names of the biological mother and the child.

 
(c) A putative father or a legal father who is not the
biological father parent may waive his the right to notice in a
document acknowledged before a notary public or a judge of
probate. The notary public may not be an attorney who represents
either the mother or any person who is likely to become the legal
guardian,
custodian or parent of the child.


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