Fam. Code, § 7662 · Chapter 5. Termination of Parental Rights in Adoption Proceedings
Fam. Code, § 7662
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) If a mother relinquishes for or consents to, or proposes to relinquish for or consent to, the adoption of a child, or if a child otherwise becomes the subject of an adoption proceeding, the agency or person to whom the child has been or is to be relinquished, or the mother or the person having physical or legal custody of the child, or the prospective adoptive parent, shall file a petition to terminate the parental rights of the alleged father, unless one of the following occurs:
(1) The alleged father’s relationship to the child has been previously terminated or determined not to exist by a court.
(2) The alleged father has been served as prescribed in Section 7666 with a written notice alleging that the alleged father is or could be the biological father of the child to be adopted or placed for adoption and has failed to bring an action for the purpose of declaring the existence of the father and child relationship pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 7630 within 30 days of service of the notice or the birth of the child, whichever is later.
(3) The alleged father has executed a written form developed by the department to waive notice, to deny parentage, relinquish the child for adoption, or consent to the adoption of the child.
(b) The alleged father may validly execute a waiver or denial of parentage before or after the birth of the child, and, once signed, no notice of, relinquishment for, or consent to adoption of the child shall be required from the alleged father for the adoption to proceed.
(c) Except as provided in this subdivision and subdivision (d), all proceedings affecting a child, including proceedings under Divisions 8 (commencing with Section 3000) to 11 (commencing with Section 6500), inclusive, Part 1 (commencing with Section 7500) to Part 3 (commencing with Section 7600), inclusive, of this division, and Part 1 (commencing with Section 1400), Part 2 (commencing with Section 1500), and Part 4 (commencing with Section 2100) of Division 4 of the Probate Code, and any motion or petition for custody or visitation filed in a proceeding under this part, shall be stayed. The petition to terminate parental rights under this section is the only matter that may be heard during the stay until the court issues a final ruling on the petition.
(d) This section does not limit the jurisdiction of the court pursuant to Part 3 (commencing with Section 6240) and Part 4 (commencing with Section 6300) of Division 10 with respect to domestic violence orders, or pursuant to Article 6 (commencing with Section 300) of Chapter 2 of Part 1 of Division 2 of the Welfare and Institutions Code with respect to dependency proceedings.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 115, Sec. 95. (AB 1817) Effective January 1, 2020.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=FAM§ionNum=7662.
- Text hash
- sha256 063aaa11cd7f61273e8ecf6d735c682a2b803d1230d58439bce675ae73823d28
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Family Code
- Fam. Code, div. 8CUSTODY OF CHILDRENPrinted as Divisions 8 (commencing with Section 3000) to 11 (commencing with Section 6500)
- Fam. Code, div. 10, pt. 3EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE ORDERSPrinted as Part 3 (commencing with Section 6240)
- Fam. Code, div. 10, pt. 4PROTECTIVE ORDERS AND OTHER DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PREVENTION ORDERSPrinted as Part 4 (commencing with Section 6300) of Division 10
- Fam. Code, div. 11MINORSPrinted as Divisions 8 (commencing with Section 3000) to 11 (commencing with Section 6500)
- Fam. Code, div. 12, pt. 1RIGHTS OF PARENTSPrinted as Part 1 (commencing with Section 7500)
- Fam. Code, div. 12, pt. 3UNIFORM PARENTAGE ACTPrinted as Part 3 (commencing with Section 7600)
- Fam. Code, § 7630Printed as Section 7630
- Fam. Code, § 7666Printed as Section 7666
Probate Code
- Prob. Code, div. 4, pt. 1DEFINITIONS AND GENERAL PROVISIONSPrinted as Part 1 (commencing with Section 1400) … of the Probate Code
- Prob. Code, div. 4, pt. 2GUARDIANSHIPPrinted as Part 2 (commencing with Section 1500) … of the Probate Code
- Prob. Code, div. 4, pt. 4PROVISIONS COMMON TO GUARDIANSHIP AND CONSERVATORSHIPPrinted as Part 4 (commencing with Section 2100) of Division 4 of the Probate Code
Cited by 5 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites Fam. Code, § 7662. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.