No person, other than the parents, may assume the permanent care and custody of a child, unless authorized so to do by an order or decree of a court having jurisdiction, except that a parent, upon giving written notice to the department of health and human services and human service zone, may place that person’s own child in the home of the child’s grandparent, uncle, or aunt for adoption or guardianship by the person receiving the child. The child must be considered abandoned if proceedings for the adoption or guardianship of the child are not initiated by such relative within one year following the date of notice of placement. No parent may assign or otherwise transfer the parent’s rights or duties with respect to the care and custody of the parent’s child. Any such transfer or assignment, written or otherwise, is void. This section does not affect the right of the parent to consent in writing to the legal adoption of the parent’s child, but such written consent does not operate to transfer any right in the child in the absence of a decree by a court having jurisdiction. Any person who violates the provisions of this section is guilty of a class A misdemeanor.

Attorney's Note

Under the North Dakota Code, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
Class A misdemeanorup to 360 daysup to $3,000
For details, see § 12.1-32-01

Terms Used In North Dakota Code 14-10-05

  • following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute means the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
  • 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: means an individual, organization, government, political subdivision, or government agency or instrumentality. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
  • written: include "typewriting" and "typewritten" and "printing" and "printed" except in the case of signatures and when the words are used by way of contrast to typewriting and printing. See North Dakota Code 1-01-37
  • year: means twelve consecutive months. See North Dakota Code 1-01-33