2023 New Mexico Statutes › Chapter 32A - Children's Code › Article 5 - Adoptions › Section 32A-5-34 - Fees and charges; damages.

A. Prior to the final hearing on a petition, the petitioner shall file a full accounting of all disbursements of anything of value made or agreed to be made by or on behalf of the petitioner in connection with an adoption. The accounting report shall be signed under penalty of perjury. The accounting report shall be itemized in detail and shall show the services reasonably relating to the adoption or to the placement of the child for adoption that were received by the parents of the child, by the child or by or on behalf of the petitioner. The report shall also include the dates of each payment and the names and addresses of each attorney, physician, hospital, licensed adoption agency or other person or organization who received any funds or any other thing of value from the petitioner in connection with the adoption or the placement of the child with the petitioner or who participated in any way in the handling of the funds, either directly or indirectly.
B. Only a prospective adoptive parent, acting alone, through an agency or through an attorney who is licensed in this state, shall make payments for services relating to the adoption or to the placement of the adoptee for adoption for allowed expenses only to third-party vendors, as reasonably practical. These payments shall consist of reasonable and actual fees or charges for:
(1) the services of an agency in connection with an adoption;
(2) medical, hospital, nursing, pharmaceutical, traveling or other similar expenses incurred by a mother or the adoptee in connection with the birth or any illness of an adoptee;
(3) reasonable counseling services relating to the adoption;
(4) living expenses of a mother and her dependent children, including the adoptee, for a reasonable time before the birth or placement of the adoptee and for no more than six weeks after the birth or placement of the adoptee;
(5) expenses incurred for the purposes of full disclosure;
(6) legal services, court costs and traveling or other administrative expenses connected with an adoption, including any legal service performed for a parent who consents to the adoption of a child or relinquishes the child to an agency;
(7) preparation of a pre-placement study and of a post-placement report during the pendency of the adoption proceeding; or
(8) any other service or expense the court finds is reasonably necessary for services relating to the adoption or to the placement of the adoptee for adoption.
C. Any person who makes payments that are not permitted pursuant to the provisions of this section is in violation of the Adoption Act and subject to the penalties set forth in Section 32A-5-42 NMSA 1978.
D. Any person who threatens or coerces a parent to complete the relinquishment of parental rights or to complete the consent to an adoption, by demanding repayment of expenses or by any other threat or coercion, shall be liable to the parent for compensatory and punitive damages.
E. The accounting required in Subsection A of this section is not applicable to stepparent adoptions or to adoptions under the provisions of the Abuse and Neglect Act [Chapter 32A, Article 4 NMSA 1978], unless ordered by the court.
F. Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit payment to a woman for conceiving and carrying a child.
History:
1978 Comp., § 32A-5-34, enacted by Laws 1993, ch. 77, § 161; 2001, ch. 162, § 7; 2005, ch. 189, § 67; 2012, ch. 28, § 3.
ANNOTATIONS
The 2012 amendment,
effective March 3, 2012, permitted only prospective adoptive parents, agencies and attorneys licensed in New Mexico to make payments on behalf of prospective adoptive parents; and in Subsection B, in the first introductory sentence added "Only" and after "adoptive parent", deleted "or another person acting on behalf of a prospective adoptive parent" and added "acting alone, through an agency or through an attorney who is licensed in this state".
The 2005 amendment,
effective June 17, 2005, in Subsection A, provided that the accounting report shall show services reasonably relating to the adoption or placement.
The 2001 amendment,
effective June 15, 2001, in Subsection B, inserted "services relating to the adoption or to the placement of the adoptee for adoption for" in the introductory language; in Paragraph B(4), inserted "including the adoptee", substituted "or placement of the adoptee" for "of her child", and added "or placement of the adoptee" at the end of the paragraph; in Paragraph B(8), inserted "for services relating to the adoption or to the placement of the adoptee for adoption"; and updated the internal reference in Subsection C.
Law reviews.
— For comment, "Stopping the Baby-Trade: Affirming the Value of Human Life Through the Invalidation of Surrogacy Contracts: A Blueprint for New Mexico," see 29 N.M.L. Rev. 407 (1999).