Montana § 40-6-111 - Pretrial Proceedings

§ 40-6-111. Pretrial Proceedings

Pretrial proceedings. (1) As soon as practicable after an action to declare the existence or nonexistence of the father and child relationship has been brought, an informal hearing must be held. The court may order that the hearing be held before a referee. The public must be barred from the hearing. A record of the proceeding must be kept. (2) Upon refusal of any witness, including a party, to testify under oath or produce evidence, the court may order the witness to testify under oath and produce evidence concerning all relevant facts. If the refusal is upon the ground that the testimony or evidence might tend to incriminate the witness, the court may grant the witness immunity from all criminal liability on account of the testimony or evidence the witness is required to produce. An order granting immunity bars prosecution of the witness for any offense shown in whole or in part by testimony or evidence that the witness is required to produce, except for perjury committed in the testimony. The refusal of a witness who has been granted immunity to obey an order to testify or produce evidence is a civil contempt of the court. (3) Upon motion, a temporary support order may be issued at any time during a paternity action when there is clear and convincing evidence of paternity in the form of paternity test results or other evidence. The temporary support order must be established according to the uniform child support guidelines adopted under 40-5-209 .