BILL NUMBER: AB 1701	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Patterson

                        FEBRUARY 13, 2014

   An act to amend Section 8603 of the Family Code, relating to
family law.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1701, as introduced, Patterson. Family law: adoption.
   Existing law provides for the adoption of unmarried minors.
Existing law prohibits a married person, not lawfully separated from
the person's spouse, from adopting a child without the consent of the
spouse if the spouse is capable of giving that consent.
   This bill would additionally provide that the consent of the
spouse shall not establish any parental rights or responsibilities on
the part of the consenting spouse unless he or she has been approved
to adopt the child, has consented to adopt the child in a writing
signed before, and filed with, the court, and is named in the final
decree as an adoptive parent of the child.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 8603 of the Family Code is amended to read:
   8603.   (a)    A married person, not lawfully
separated from the person's spouse,  may   shall
 not adopt a child without the consent of the spouse, provided
that the spouse is capable of giving that consent. 
   (b) The consent of the spouse shall not establish any parental
rights or responsibilities on the part of the consenting spouse
unless he or she has been approved to adopt the child, has consented
to adopt the child in a writing signed before, and filed with, the
court, and is named in the final decree as an adoptive parent.