15A V.S.A. § 302

This is the official text of 15A V.S.A. § 302, part of Vermont’s V.S.A — part of the compiled statutory law of Vermont, published by the state as "V.S.A." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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§ 3-302. Time for filing petition

Official statutory text

(a) Unless the court for good cause extends the time for filing, a petition for adoption shall be filed no later than 45 days after a minor is placed with the petitioner for the specific purpose of adoption. This provision does not apply to foster parent, relative, or stepparent adoptions.

(b) If a petition is not filed within 45 days after placement or within any extended period of time approved by the court, any interested person or agency may file an action challenging the prospective adoptive parent's custody of the minor.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.