## Facts

- Mother (V.L–S.) and Father (M.S.) are the divorced parents of adult twin sons, M.A.S. and C.M.S., who have severe mental and physical disabilities and require full-time care.
- C.M.S. is legally blind, nonverbal, cannot walk independently, and receives nutrition through a feeding tube.
- M.A.S. is autistic with significant cognitive delays and cannot be left alone.
- The twins live with Mother, who modified her home to meet their needs.
- The parents’ dissolution decree required Father to pay child support while the twins were minors.
- After the twins reached adulthood, Mother petitioned for guardianships and conservatorships; the district court found each twin to be an “incapacitated person” and appointed Mother as guardian and conservator with the powers set out in Montana’s guardianship statutes.
- The twins graduated from high school and later turned nineteen; under § 40-4-208(5), MCA, Father’s dissolution-based child support obligation ended by operation of law absent an agreement extending support.
- Mother then petitioned in the conservatorship matters for an order requiring Father to continue providing financial support due to the twins’ disabilities.
- The district court concluded it could not order “child support” under the UCCJEA framework because the UCCJEA defines “child” as a person under eighteen, but it ordered Father to pay support under § 40-6-214, MCA (“Duty of parent to support child”).
- Father appealed, arguing the district court lacked authority under § 40-6-214, MCA to impose support for adult children after the dissolution child support order had terminated.

## Issues

1. Whether § 40-6-214, MCA authorizes a district court, in guardianship and conservatorship proceedings, to require a parent to provide financial support for incapacitated adult children after dissolution-based child support has ended under § 40-4-208(5), MCA.

## Decision

- The Montana Supreme Court affirmed the district court’s order requiring Father to provide financial support for the twins.
- The Court held that § 40-6-214, MCA provides authority to enforce a parent’s duty to support a child who cannot support himself because of serious disability, even when the child is an adult.
- The Court concluded that the termination of Father’s dissolution-decree child support obligation under § 40-4-208(5), MCA did not eliminate the separate statutory duty of parental support recognized in § 40-6-214, MCA.
- The Court agreed that the UCCJEA was not the proper source of authority for ordering support for adult children, and that the district court instead could rely on § 40-6-214, MCA in the guardianship/conservatorship context.
- The Court treated the district court’s order as enforcement of a distinct statutory support duty, not as an extension of the expired dissolution child support order.

## Legal Principles

- Under § 40-4-208(5), MCA, a child support obligation created by a dissolution decree ends by operation of law at the statutory endpoint (generally majority or high school graduation, whichever occurs later), unless extended by agreement or qualifying order.
- Section 40-6-214, MCA imposes a parental duty to support a child who is unable to support himself because of mental or physical disability; that duty may continue beyond the child’s attainment of adulthood when the disability prevents self-support.
- A district court may enforce the § 40-6-214, MCA support duty through guardianship and conservatorship proceedings when adult children have been adjudicated incapacitated and need ongoing care.
- Ending dissolution-based child support does not bar a court from ordering support based on a separate statutory duty that applies in different proceedings and is triggered by different facts.
- The UCCJEA’s definition of “child” limits custody-jurisdiction analysis for minors and does not supply authority to order support for adult incapacitated persons; the support order must rest on another valid statute.

## Conclusion

In *Guardianship of M.A.S.*, the Montana Supreme Court affirmed an order entered in guardianship and conservatorship proceedings requiring a father to help support his severely disabled adult twin sons, holding that § 40-6-214, MCA authorizes enforcement of a continuing parental support duty independent of, and not barred by, the termination of dissolution-based child support under § 40-4-208(5), MCA.


Guardianship of M.A.S., 363 Mont. 96, 266 P.3d 1267 (2011)