Montana Code 40-7-140. Cooperation between courts — preservation of records
40-7-140. Cooperation between courts — preservation of records. (1) A court of this state may request the appropriate court of another state to:
Terms Used In Montana Code 40-7-140
- Child: means an individual who has not attained 18 years of age. See Montana Code 40-7-103
- Child custody proceeding: means a proceeding in which legal custody, physical custody, or visitation with respect to a child is an issue. See Montana Code 40-7-103
- Court: means an entity authorized under the law of a state to establish, enforce, or modify a child custody determination. See Montana Code 40-7-103
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Person: includes a government, a governmental subdivision, an agency, an instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity. See Montana Code 40-7-103
- Physical custody: means the physical care and supervision of a child. See Montana Code 40-7-103
- Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
- State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Montana Code 40-7-103
- Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
(a)hold an evidentiary hearing;
(b)order a person to produce or give evidence pursuant to procedures of that state;
(c)order that an evaluation be made with respect to the custody of a child involved in a pending proceeding;
(d)forward to the court of this state a certified copy of the transcript of the record of the hearing, the evidence otherwise presented, and any evaluation prepared in compliance with the request; and
(e)order a party to a child custody proceeding or any person having physical custody of the child to appear in the proceeding with or without the child.
(2)Upon request of a court of another state, a court of this state may hold a hearing or enter an order described in subsection (1).
(3)Travel and other necessary and reasonable expenses incurred under subsections (1) and (2) may be assessed against the parties according to the law of this state.
(4)A court of this state shall preserve the pleadings, orders, decrees, records of hearings, evaluations, and other pertinent records with respect to a child custody proceeding until the child attains 18 years of age. Upon appropriate request by a court or law enforcement official of another state, the court shall forward a certified copy of those records.