(1) Except as otherwise provided in the Nebraska Indian Child Welfare Act, any person or persons desiring to adopt a minor child or an adult child shall file a petition for adoption signed and sworn to by the person or persons desiring to adopt. The following shall be filed prior to the hearing required under section 43-103 :

Terms Used In Nebraska Statutes 43-102

  • Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Person: shall include bodies politic and corporate, societies, communities, the public generally, individuals, partnerships, limited liability companies, joint-stock companies, and associations. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
  • State: when applied to different states of the United States shall be construed to extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories organized by Congress. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
  • Sworn: shall include affirmed in all cases in which an affirmation may be substituted for an oath. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
  • Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.

(a) The consent or consents required by sections 43-104 and 43-105 or section 43-104.07 ;

(b) The documents required by section 43-104.07 or the documents required by sections 43-104.08 to 43-104.24 ;

(c) A completed preplacement adoptive home study if required by section 43-107 ;

(d) The completed and signed affidavit described in section 43-104.09 if required by such section;

(e) The completed and signed affidavit described in section 43-104.16 if required by such section; and

(f) When a consent is not required under subdivision (4)(c) of section 43-104, a certified copy of the termination order.

(2) The county court of the county in which the person or persons desiring to adopt a child reside has jurisdiction of adoption proceedings, except that if a juvenile court already has jurisdiction over the child to be adopted under the Nebraska Juvenile Code, such juvenile court has concurrent jurisdiction with the county court in such adoption proceeding. If a child to be adopted is a ward of any court or a ward of the state at the time of placement and at the time of filing an adoption petition, the person or persons desiring to adopt shall not be required to be residents of Nebraska. The petition and all other court filings for an adoption proceeding shall be filed with the clerk of the county court. The party shall state in the petition whether such party requests that the proceeding be heard by the county court or, in cases in which a juvenile court already has jurisdiction over the child to be adopted under the Nebraska Juvenile Code, such juvenile court. Such proceeding is considered a county court proceeding even if heard by a juvenile court judge and an order of the juvenile court in such adoption proceeding has the force and effect of a county court order. The testimony in an adoption proceeding heard before a juvenile court judge shall be preserved as in any other juvenile court proceeding.

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