Short answer. Yes. Parental authority terminates upon a judicial declaration of abandonment only when that declaration comes from a case filed specifically for that purpose — the law does not treat abandonment as automatically ending parental authority without a court first ruling on it in a dedicated proceeding.
What the law says
Upon judicial declaration of abandonment of the child in a case filed for the purpose;
Family Code, Article 229 — Revivable Termination of Parental Authority. Read the full provision →
Abandonment must be judicially declared, in a dedicated case
The statute is specific about the mechanism: parental authority terminates upon a judicial declaration of abandonment, and that declaration must come from a case filed for the purpose. This phrasing answers your question directly — the law requires an actual proceeding brought specifically to seek that declaration. A parent's absence or lack of contact, however long it lasts, does not by itself terminate parental authority under this provision without a court declaration obtained through that dedicated case.
One of several distinct grounds in this article
This ground for termination sits alongside four others in the same article: adoption of the child, appointment of a general guardian, a final judgment divesting a parent of authority, and a judicial declaration of absence or incapacity of the person exercising parental authority. Each of these five grounds is its own basis for termination, and each carries its own requirements — the abandonment ground specifically requires the dedicated case-filed-for-the-purpose element that the others are not described as needing in the same way.
Termination under this article can later be revived
The article opens with an important qualifier: any of the five terminations it lists, including one based on a judicial declaration of abandonment, applies unless subsequently revived by a final judgment. This means that even after a court declares abandonment and parental authority terminates on that basis, the law contemplates that authority could later be revived through a further final judgment, rather than treating the original termination as permanently irreversible in every case.
What this provision does not itself supply
This article states the substantive rule — that a dedicated case and a judicial declaration are required — but it does not itself set out where such a case must be filed, what evidence of abandonment is needed, or the specific procedure to follow. Those details are governed by separate procedural rules, and pursuing this ground means bringing the abandonment question before a court through whatever process governs a case filed for that specific purpose. It also does not, on its own, resolve custody, support, or the child's status going forward — those consequences would need to be addressed separately, whether within that same proceeding or through other applicable rules, since this article speaks only to when parental authority itself terminates.