Termination of Parental Rights in Nevada

Part of my Nevada Adoption Overview.

By Ronald W. Brilliant, Attorney at Law · Licensed in Idaho, Nevada & California · Last reviewed: September 2026 against Nevada Revised Statutes chapters 127A through 127G and 128 (current through the 2025 legislative session)

In This TopicNevada AdoptionTopic 10 of 10: Termination of Rights

Termination of parental rights is a court order that ends a parent’s rights with respect to a child and declares the child free from the parent’s custody and control (NRS 128.110(1)). Chapter 128 of NRS governs these cases. The Legislature has declared that preserving and strengthening family life is part of Nevada’s public policy, and that ending the parent and child relationship is important enough to require a judicial decision (NRS 128.005(1), (2)(a)). The child’s continuing needs for proper physical, mental and emotional growth and development are the decisive considerations (NRS 128.005(2)(c)).

Chapter 128 cases may be brought by an agency or by a private person (NRS 128.040), and in some adoptions a termination proceeding is required (NRS 128.150). The “parent and child relationship” includes all rights, privileges and obligations between parent and child, and “parent” includes an adoptive parent (NRS 128.015). A “child” is a person under 18 (NRS 128.0124).

Starting a Case

Who may file. The agency which provides child welfare services, the probation officer, or any other person, including the mother of an unborn child, may file a petition (NRS 128.040). The court may order investigations at any stage of the case (NRS 128.040). Except as provided in NRS 125E.270, the district courts have jurisdiction (NRS 128.020).

Where to file. The petitioner may choose to file in the county where the child is found, where the acts complained of occurred, where the child lives, where the child is the subject of another court case, where an agency which provides child welfare services is located, where the child’s guardian or custodian lives, where the defendant lives, or where the convenience of witnesses and the ends of justice would be promoted (NRS 128.030). If a parent whose consent is required objects to venue in writing, the court must hold a hearing on whether to transfer the case to another county (NRS 128.087(1)).

The petition. The petition must be verified and must state the facts that bring the child within chapter 128; the child’s name, age and residence; the names and residences of the parents, the person with physical custody and any legal guardian; and whether the petitioner has reason to know the child is an Indian child (NRS 128.050(2)). If the petitioner or the child receives public assistance, the petition must say so (NRS 128.050(5)).

Chapter 128 also applies to termination cases that an agency which provides child welfare services starts under NRS 432B.5901, to the extent it does not conflict with NRS 432B.5901 to 432B.5908 (NRS 128.007). For those cases, see Adoption from Foster Care.

Notice to Parents

• Personal service. Unless they voluntarily appear and consent to the hearing, each parent whose residence is known must be personally served with notice of the hearing, as must the child’s legal custodian or guardian whose residence is known. If a parent’s residence is not known, notice goes to that parent’s nearest known relative living in Nevada, if known (NRS 128.060(1), (2)).
• Publication. If a parent, custodian or guardian cannot be found after due diligence or is hiding to avoid service, the court may order notice by publication in a newspaper once a week for 4 weeks. Service is complete 4 weeks after the first publication (NRS 128.070(1), (2)). The child’s initials replace the child’s name in the published notice (NRS 128.070(3)).
• Public assistance. If the petitioner or child receives public assistance, the petitioner must mail the notice and petition to the Chief of the Child Support Enforcement Program by registered or certified mail at least 45 days before the hearing (NRS 128.060(3)).
• Safe haven. A parent who delivered a child to a provider of emergency services under NRS 432B.630 is deemed to have waived the right to notice (NRS 128.060(4); NRS 128.070(6)).

When the mother of an unborn child petitions to terminate the father’s rights, the known father or putative father must be served, and the hearing may be held any time after the child’s birth and completion of service (NRS 128.085).

The Hearing

The case is civil and is governed by the Nevada Rules of Civil Procedure. The petitioner must prove the facts by clear and convincing evidence. The court must consider the parent’s rights and claims and all ties of blood or affection, but with a dominant purpose of serving the child’s best interests (NRS 128.090(2)).

Hearings are confidential and held in closed court, except as the statute and the court allow (NRS 128.090(5), (6)). The court file is open only to the petitioner, a person who intends to respond to the petition, or someone the court permits after a petition giving reasons (NRS 128.090(7)). The court must use its best efforts to finish the case within 6 months after the petition is filed, unless a specific statute requires otherwise (NRS 128.055).

Attorneys

• The court may appoint an attorney for the child in any termination case (NRS 128.100(1)).
• If the child was placed outside the home under chapter 432B, the court must appoint an attorney for the child, and the child is deemed a party (NRS 128.100(2)).
• If a parent wants a lawyer but is indigent, the court may appoint one (NRS 128.100(3)). A person is deemed indigent if, for example, household income is less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level, the person receives Medicaid, TANF, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance or Social Security disability benefits, the person lives in public housing, or hiring counsel would be a financial hardship (NRS 128.100(5)).
• For the parent of an Indian child who is indigent, the court must appoint an attorney (NRS 128.023(2)). The case must also include testimony of at least one qualified expert witness as provided in the Indian Child Welfare Act, such as an Indian person with personal knowledge of the child’s tribe and its customs for raising a child (NRS 128.093).

Grounds for Termination

The primary consideration is whether termination will serve the child’s best interests (NRS 128.105(1)). An order terminating parental rights must include a finding that termination serves the child’s best interests and a finding that the parent’s conduct was the basis for a finding under NRS 432B.393(3) or demonstrated at least one of the following (NRS 128.105(1)):

1. Abandonment of the child;
2. Neglect of the child;
3. Unfitness of the parent;
4. Failure of parental adjustment;
5. Risk of serious physical, mental or emotional injury to the child if returned to or left in the parent’s home;
6. Only token efforts to support or communicate with the child, prevent neglect, avoid being an unfit parent, or eliminate the risk of serious injury;
7. For termination of one parent’s rights, abandonment by that parent; or
8. The child was conceived as a result of a sexual assault for which the natural parent was convicted.

Some of these terms have their own definitions. Abandonment is conduct showing a settled purpose to give up all parental custody and all claims to the child (NRS 128.012(1)). An unfit parent is one who, by reason of fault, habit or conduct, fails to provide the child with proper care, guidance and support (NRS 128.018). Failure of parental adjustment occurs when a parent is unable or unwilling within a reasonable time to substantially correct the circumstances that led to the child’s placement outside the home, despite reasonable and appropriate efforts to return the child (NRS 128.0126).

If the child has been out of the parent’s or guardian’s care for at least 12 consecutive months, the court must consider the child’s placement options, age and developmental, cognitive and psychological needs before finding a risk of serious injury (NRS 128.105(2)).

What the court considers

In deciding neglect or unfitness, the court must consider conditions such as a parent’s mental illness that makes the parent consistently unable to care for the child, cruel or abusive conduct, excessive use of alcohol or drugs, repeated failure to provide food, shelter or other care, certain felony convictions, unexplained serious injuries to a child in the parent’s care, and the failure of agencies to reunite the family despite reasonable efforts (NRS 128.106(1)).

If the child is not in the parent’s physical custody, the court must consider the services offered to the parent, the child’s condition, needs and (if able to express them) desires, the parent’s efforts to adjust, and whether more services would likely allow the child to return home within a predictable time. Incidental contacts and contributions are disregarded (NRS 128.107). When an agency seeks termination so that foster parents can adopt, the court also considers the child’s ties to the foster family and a list of comparison factors (NRS 128.108).

Presumptions

Situation	What is presumed	NRS
Parent leaves child with another, without provision for support and without communication, for 6 months	Intent to abandon	128.012(2)
Child left where parents cannot be identified despite diligent search, and parents do not come forward within 3 months after the child is found	Intent to abandon	128.012(2)
Putative father fails to acknowledge the child or petition to establish his rights before the termination hearing	Intent to abandon	128.095
Parent engages in conduct that violates NRS 200.463, 200.4631, 200.464 or 200.465, or voluntarily delivers a child to a provider of emergency services under NRS 432B.630	Abandonment	128.097
Child placed outside the home under chapter 432B has lived outside the home for 14 of any 20 consecutive months	Only token efforts by the parent, and termination is in the child’s best interests	128.109(1)(a), (2)
Parent fails to substantially comply with a reunification plan within 6 months after placement or the start of the plan, whichever is later	Evidence of failure of parental adjustment	128.109(1)(b)

The presumptions in NRS 128.109 cannot be overcome by evidence that the State failed to provide services to the family (NRS 128.109(3)).

The Order and Its Effect

If the court finds grounds, it must make a signed written order terminating the parent’s rights, declaring the child free from the parent’s custody and control, and placing the child with a person or agency qualified to care for or place children (NRS 128.110(1)). That person or agency may prefer a suitable relative within the fifth degree of consanguinity (blood relationship), even one outside Nevada, and must, if practicable, prefer placing the child with siblings. Any search for a relative must be finished within 1 year after the child was first placed outside the home (NRS 128.110(2)).

Termination does not end the child’s right to inherit from the parent. That right ends only if the child is adopted as provided in NRS 127A.250 (NRS 128.110(1)). The order is conclusive and binding, and except for restoration under NRS 128.190, the court has no power to set it aside or change it, although the right of appeal remains (NRS 128.120).

Fathers When a Child Is Placed for Adoption

If a mother relinquishes or proposes to relinquish a child for adoption, and the child has a presumed father under NRS 126.051, a court-determined father, or a father as to whom the child is legitimate, and that father has not consented or relinquished, a proceeding under chapter 128 must be brought to decide whether a parent and child relationship exists and, if so, whether it should be terminated (NRS 128.150(1)). If the mother relinquishes or proposes to relinquish a child who has none of those fathers and no father who can be identified in any other way, or if the child otherwise becomes the subject of an adoption proceeding, the agency or person receiving the child, or the mother or the person having custody, must file a petition to terminate the father’s rights unless a court has already terminated his relationship or found it does not exist (NRS 128.150(2)).

The court must ask the mother and others about marriage, cohabitation, support and any man who has acknowledged possible paternity (NRS 128.150(3)). Each identified possible father must receive notice; failing to appear, or appearing but failing to claim custodial rights, is abandonment (NRS 128.150(4)). If no father is identified and no one comes forward claiming custodial rights, the court must terminate the unknown father’s rights. Subject to any appeal, once 6 months have passed after an order terminating parental rights is issued under that subsection or chapter 128, the order cannot be questioned by any person in any manner or on any ground, including fraud, misrepresentation, failure to give notice or lack of jurisdiction (NRS 128.150(5)). See Parentage and Consent and Relinquishment.

If a natural parent sues to set aside a termination order after an adoption has been granted, the child’s best interests are the primary and determining consideration, and it is presumed that remaining in the adoptive home is in the child’s best interest (NRS 128.160).

Restoring Parental Rights

A child who has not been adopted, and whose parent’s rights were terminated or relinquished, or the child’s legal custodian or guardian, may petition to restore the parent’s rights. The parent must consent in writing (NRS 128.170). The parent, custodian, guardian, the person or entity that petitioned for the termination (if the rights were terminated and that petitioner is different), and the child’s attorney (or the child) must be personally served with notice (NRS 128.180(2)).

Before granting the petition, the court must find that a child 14 or older consents, and that the parent has been informed of and is willing and able to accept the obligations, rights and consequences of restoration (NRS 128.190(2)). The court must then order restoration if it finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the child is not likely to be adopted and that restoration is in the child’s best interests (NRS 128.190(3)). On entry of the order, the child becomes the legal child of the parent whose rights are restored, with all the rights and duties of parents (NRS 128.190(5)).

How I Can Help

I represent parents, relatives and adoptive families in termination proceedings, including cases tied to a stepparent or relative adoption, notice to unknown or absent fathers, and petitions to restore parental rights. Request a consultation to discuss your situation.

This page provides general information about Nevada adoption law, based on the Nevada Revised Statutes as currently revised, and is not legal advice. Court rules, regulations, federal law, and case law also affect adoptions. Every adoption is different; consult an attorney about your situation. Reading this page does not create an attorney-client relationship.