Effect of recording.

§ 180. The recording or non-recording of such contract has a like effect as the recording or non-recording of a grant of real property.

Minors may make marriage settlements.

§ 181. A minor capable of contracting marriage may make a valid marriage settlement.

PARENT AND CHILD.

Legitimacy of children born in wedlock.

§ 193.

All children born in wedlock are presumed to be legitimate. Children after dissolution of marriage.

§ 194. All children of a woman who has been married, born within ten months after the dissolution of the marriage, are presumed to be legitimate children of that marriage. [Amended March 30, 1874.]

Who may dispute the legitimacy.

$195. The presumption of legitimacy can be disputed only by the [1] husband or [2] wife, or the [3] descendant of one or both of them. Illegitimacy, in such case, may be proved like any other fact.

Obligation of parents.

$196. The parent entitled to the custody of a child must give him support and education suitable to his circumstances. If the support and education which the father of a legitimate child is able to give are inadequate, the mother must assist him to the extent of her ability.

Custody of legitimate child.

$197. The father of a legitimate unmarried minor child is entitled to its custody, services, and earnings; but he can not transfer such custody or services to any other person, except the mother, without her written consent, unless she has deserted him, or is living separate from him by agreement. If the father [1] be dead, or [2] be unable, or [3] refuse to take the custody, or [4] has abandoned his family, the mother is entitled thereto. [Amended March 30, 1874.]

Husband and wife living separate.

§ 198. The husband and father, as such, has no right superior to those of the wife and mother, in regard to the care, custody, education, and control of the children of the marriage, while such husband and wife live separate and apart form each other.

When husband or wife may bring action for the exclusive control of children.

§ 199. Without application for a divorce, the husband or the wife may bring an action for the exclusive control of the children of the marriage; and the court may, [1] during the pendency of such action, or [2] at the final hearing thereof, or [3] afterwards, make such order or decree in re

gard to the support, care, custody, education, and control of the children of the marriage, as may be just, and in accordance with the natural rights of the parents and the best interests of the children, and may [4] at any time thereafter amend, vary, or modify such order or decree, as the natural rights and the interests of the parties, including the children, may require. Custody of an illegitimate child.

$ 200. The mother of an illegitimate unmarried minor is entitled to its custody, services, and earnings.

Allowance to parent.

$201. The proper court may direct an allowance to be made to the parent of a child, out of its property, for its past or future support and education, on such conditions as may be proper, whenever such direction is for its benefit.

Parent can not control child's property.

§ 202. The parent, as such, has no control over the property of the child. Remedy for parental abuse.

§ 203. The abuse of parental authority is the subject of judicial cognizance in a civil action brought [1] by the child, or [2] by its relative within the third degree, or [3] by the supervisors of the county where the child resides; and when the abuse is established, the child may be freed from the dominion of the parent, and the duty of support and education enforced. When parental authority ceases.

§ 204. The authority of a parent ceases:

1. Upon the appointment, by a court, of a guardian of the person of a child;

2. Upon the marriage of the child; or,

3. Upon its attaining majority.

Remedy when a parent dies without providing for the support of his child.

$ 205. If a parent chargeable with the support of a child dies, [1] leaving it chargeable to the county, and [2] leaving an estate sufficient for its support, the supervisors of the county may claim provision for its support from the parent's estate by civil action, and for this purpose may have the same remedies as any creditors against that estate, and against the heirs, devisees, and next of kin of the parent.

Reciprocal duties of parents and children.

$ 206. It is the duty of the [1] father, the [2] mother, and the [3] children of any poor person who is unable to maintain himself by work, to maintain such person to the extent of their ability. The promise of an adult child to pay for necessaries previously furnished to such parent is binding.

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When a parent is liable for necessaries.

§ 207. If a parent neglects to provide articles necessary for his child who is under his charge, according to his circumstances, a third person may in good faith supply such necessaries, and recover the reasonable value thereof from the parent.

When a parent is not liable for support.

§ 208. A parent is not bound to compensate [1] the other parent, or [2] a relative, for the voluntary support of his child, without an agreement for compensation, nor [3] to compensate a stranger for the support of a child who has abandoned the parent without just cause.

Support of wife's children by a former marriage.

§ 209. A husband is not bound to maintain his wife's children by a former husband; but if he receives them into his family and supports them, it is presumed that he does so as a parent, and, where such is the case, they are not liable to him for their support, nor he to them for their services. Compensation and support of adult child.

$ 210. Where a child, after attaining majority, continues to serve and to be supported by the parent, neither party is entitled to compensation, in the absence of an agreement therefor.

Parent may relinquish services and custody of child.

$211. The parent, whether solvent or insolvent, may relinquish to the child the right of controlling him and receiving his earnings. Abandonment by the parent is presumptive evidence of such relinquishment.

Wages of minors.

§ 212. The wages of a minor employed in service may be paid to him until the parent or guardian entitled thereto gives the employer notice that he claims such wages. [Amended March 30, 1874.]

Right of parent to determine residence of child.

§ 213. A parent entitled to the custody of a child has a right to change his residence, subject to the power of the proper court to restrain a removal which would prejudice the rights or welfare of the child.

Wife may obtain custody of minor children.

$214. When a husband and wife live in a state of separation, without being divorced, any court of competent jurisdiction, upon application of either, if an inhabitant of this state, may inquire into the custody of any unmarried minor child of the marriage, and may award the custody of such child to either, for such time and under such regulations as the case may require. The decision of the court must be guided by the rules prescribed in section two hundred and forty-six.

When child becomes legitimate.

$215. A child born before wedlock becomes legitimate by the subsequent marriage of its parents. [Enacted March 30, 1874.]

Child may be adopted.

ADOPTION.

§ 221. Any minor child may be adopted by any adult person, in the cases and subject to the rules prescribed in this chapter.

Who may adopt.

§ 222. The person adopting the child must be at least ten years older than the person adopted. [Amended March 30, 1874.]

Consent to adoption by wife.

§ 223. A married man, not lawfully separated from his wife, can not adopt a child without the consent of his wife, nor can a married woman, not thus separated from her husband, without his consent; provided, the husband or wife, not consenting, is capable of giving such consent. [Amended March 30, 1874.]

Consent necessary. Orphans and abandoned children.

§ 224. A legitimate child can not be adopted without the consent of its parents, if living; nor an illegitimate child without the consent of its mother, if living; except, that consent is not necessary from a father or mother deprived of civil rights, or adjudged guilty of adultery or cruelty, and for either cause divorced, or adjudged to be habitually intemperate in the use of intoxicants, or who has been judicially deprived of the custody of the child on account of cruelty or neglect. Neither is consent of any parent necessary in case of any abandoned child. Any child deserted by its parents without provision for their identification, or relinquished by its parent or parents for the purpose of adoption expressed in writing signed and acknowledged by such parent or parents before an officer authorized to take acknowledgments, shall from the date of such act of desertion or of such relinquishment be deemed to be an abandoned child within the meaning of this section. Any child left in the care and custody of another by its parent or parents without any provision for its support, for the period of one year, may after such notice to the parent or parents residing within the state and to such other relatives of said child residing within the county as the court shall require, be determined by order of the juvenile court of the county in which said child was so left to be an abandoned child within the terms of this section. Any abandoned child within the meaning of this section or any child whose parent or parents have been judicially deprived of its custody on account of cruelty or neglect, maintained by or in the custody of any orphan asylum within this state, any charitable organization or society receiving state aid or receiving commitments from the juvenile court, may be adopted with the consent of the managers of such orphan asylum, charitable organization or society. Any orphan child for whose support no provision has been made by any person for a period of one year, but who has been maintained during said year by or in the custody of any orphan asylum within this state, any charitable organization or society receiving state aid or receiving commitments from the juvenile

court, may be adopted with the consent of the managers of such orphan asylum, charitable organization or society. [Amended March 12, 1911.] Consent of child.

§ 225. The consent of a child, if over the age of twelve years, is necessary to its adoption.

Proceedings on adoption.

§ 226. Any person desiring to adopt a child may, for that purpose, petition the superior court of the county in which the petitioner resides. The [1] person adopting a child, and [2] the child adopted, and [3] the other persons, if within or residents of said county, whose consent is necessary, must appear before the court, and [4] the necessary consent must thereupon be signed and [5] an agreement executed by the person adopting, to the effect that the child shall be adopted and treated in all respects as his own lawful child should be treated. If the persons whose consent is necessary are not within or are not residents of said county, then [6] their written consent, duly proved or acknowledged, according to sections eleven hundred and eighty-two and eleven hundred and eighty-three [7] must be filed in said superior court at the time of the application for adoption. [Amended March 16, 1907.]

Judge's order in adoption proceedings.

§ 227. The court must [1] examine all persons appearing before it pursuant to the last section, each separately, and if satisfied that the interests of the child will be promoted by the adoption, it must make an order declaring that the child shall thenceforth be regarded and treated in all respects as the child of the person adopting. The petition, agreement, consent, and order must be filed and registered in the office of the county clerk in the same manner as papers in other special proceedings. [Amended March 21, 1905.]

Effect of adoption.

§ 228. A child, when adopted, may take the family name of the person adopting. After adoption, the two shall sustain towards each other the legal relation of parent and child, and have all the rights and be subject to all the duties of that relation. [Amended March 30, 1874.]

Effect on former relations of child.

$229. The parents of an adopted child are, from the time of the adoption, relieved of all parental duties towards, and all responsibility for, the child so adopted, and have no right over it.

Adoption of illegitimate child.

$230. The father of an illegitimate child, by [1] publicly acknowledging it as his own, [2] receiving it as such, [3] with the consent of his wife, if he is married, [4] into his family, and [5] otherwise treating it as if it were a legitimate child, thereby adopts it as such; and such child is thereupon deemed for all purposes legitimate from the time of its birth. The foregoing provisions of this chapter do not apply to such an adoption.