2023 Montana Code Annotated › Title 41. Minors › Chapter 5. Youth Court Act › Part 2. Youth Court -- Jurisdiction -- Records › 41-5-215. Youth court and department records -- notification of school

41-5-215. Youth court and department records -- notification of school.
(1) Formal youth court records, including reports of preliminary inquiries, petitions, motions, other filed pleadings, court findings, verdicts, and orders and decrees on file with the clerk of court, are public records and are open to public inspection until the records are sealed under 41-5-216.
(2) Social, medical, and psychological records, youth assessment materials, predispositional studies, and supervision records of probationers are open only to the following:
(a) the youth court and its professional staff;
(b) representatives of any agency providing supervision and having legal custody of a youth;
(c) any other person, by order of the court, having a legitimate interest in the case or in the work of the court;
(d) any court and its probation and other professional staff or the attorney for a convicted party who had been a party to proceedings in the youth court when considering the sentence to be imposed on the party;
(e) the county attorney;
(f) the youth who is the subject of the report or record, after emancipation or reaching the age of majority;
(g) a member of a county or regional interdisciplinary child information and school safety team formed under 52-2-211 who is not listed in this subsection (2);
(h) members of a local interagency staffing group provided for in 52-2-203;
(i) persons allowed access under 42-3-203;
(j) persons conducting evaluations as required in 41-5-2003; and
(k) the attorney, guardian ad litem, or child advocate for the youth who is the subject of the report or record.
(3) In all cases, a victim is entitled to all information concerning the identity and disposition of the youth, as provided in 41-5-1416.
(4) The school district may disclose, without consent, personally identifiable information from an education record of a pupil to the youth court and law enforcement authorities pertaining to violations of the Montana Youth Court Act or criminal laws by the pupil. The youth court or law enforcement authorities receiving the information shall certify in writing to the school district that the information will not be disclosed to any other party except as provided under state law without the prior consent of the parent or guardian of the pupil.
(5) Any part of records information secured from records listed in subsection (2), when presented to and used by the court in a proceeding under this chapter, must also be made available to the counsel for the parties to the proceedings.
History: En. 10-1231 by Sec. 31, Ch. 329, L. 1974; R.C.M. 1947, 10-1231; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 507, L. 1979; amd. Sec. 13, Ch. 515, L. 1987; amd. Sec. 64, Ch. 609, L. 1987; amd. Sec. 4, Ch. 510, L. 1991; amd. Sec. 7, Ch. 655, L. 1991; amd. Sec. 4, Ch. 466, L. 1995; amd. Sec. 4, Ch. 481, L. 1995; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 450, L. 1997; amd. Sec. 167, Ch. 480, L. 1997; amd. Sec. 46, Ch. 550, L. 1997; Sec. 41-5-603, MCA 1995; redes. 41-5-215 by Sec. 47, Ch. 286, L. 1997; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 106, L. 1999; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 564, L. 1999; amd. Sec. 82, Ch. 114, L. 2003; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 423, L. 2005; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 54, L. 2009; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 373, L. 2009; amd. Sec. 6, Ch. 364, L. 2013; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 45, L. 2017; amd. Sec. 4, Ch. 248, L. 2019; amd. Sec. 11, Ch. 344, L. 2019.