Short answer. Once such a petition is filed, the court must notify the parents. If the parents are absent or incapacitated, notice instead goes to whichever individuals, entities, or institutions are actually exercising parental authority over the child at that time, so someone responsible for the child is always informed.
What the law says
Upon the filing of the petition, the court shall notify the parents or, in their absence or incapacity, the individuals, entities or institutions exercising parental authority over the child.
Family Code, Article 251 — Notice to Those Exercising Parental Authority. Read the full provision →
Notice to the parents is the default
Article 251 puts the obligation on the court itself: upon the filing of the petition, the court must notify the parents. This is not something the petitioner arranges informally or that happens only if someone remembers to ask — the statute frames it as a step the court is required to take as soon as the petition is filed, before the case moves forward.
Who stands in when the parents are absent or incapacitated
The article anticipates that the parents may not always be reachable or able to receive notice. Where they are absent or incapacitated, notice instead goes to the individuals, entities or institutions exercising parental authority over the child. This could mean a guardian, an institution caring for the child, or whoever else has stepped into that role in the parents' place.
Why this matters if you are the one being petitioned against
If a petition concerning parental authority over your child has been filed, Article 251 means you should be notified directly, provided you are one of the parents and are neither absent nor incapacitated. Notice is not optional or discretionary on the court's part under this article — it is framed as something that must happen once the petition is on file, giving the parent the chance to appear and be heard before the case proceeds further.
What the article does not cover
Article 251 establishes who must be notified; it does not spell out the form the notice must take, how quickly it must be given, or what happens procedurally if notice cannot be completed. Those mechanics are governed elsewhere, so this article should be read as fixing the who, not the how, of notification in these proceedings, and it does not address what happens if the whereabouts of a notifiable party are unknown.
This article is about notice, not about who may petition
Article 251 answers a narrower question than it might first appear to. It does not say who is entitled to file a petition concerning parental authority in the first place, what grounds justify filing one, or what relief the court may grant once the petition is heard. Its function begins after a petition already exists: it fixes who the court must reach out to once that filing happens. Someone asking whether they can bring such a petition at all needs a different provision; Article 251 only tells you who gets told about a petition someone else has already filed.