Also known as: paternity suits · paternity action · paternity proceeding
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A court proceeding to determine whether a person is the father of a child, especially one born out of wedlock. The proceeding is typically initiated by the mother to obtain child support and may involve genetic testing or other evidence to adjudicate parentage.
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Paula Pierce gave birth to a child out of wedlock and sought support from the alleged father six years later. The state statute barred her claim because it imposed a six-year limitations period only on nonmarital children. The court applied intermediate scrutiny and allowed the suit to proceed because the deadline was not substantially related to preventing stale claims.
Pedro Pacheco filed a paternity suit after the mother denied him contact with their child. The maternal grandmother intervened seeking visitation rights under a best-interests standard. The court weighed the father's established parentage against the grandmother's petition before ruling on access.
Phuong Pham brought a paternity suit and the state used peremptory strikes to remove all male jurors from the venire. The court examined whether the strikes were based on gender stereotypes rather than case-specific reasons before allowing the panel to be seated.
Priscilla Parks was compelled by the state to bring a paternity action against an indigent alleged father. The court ordered the state to pay for blood tests because the proceeding was state-initiated and the defendant lacked resources to mount a defense.
Penelope Price filed a paternity suit claiming a man other than her husband was the biological father of her child. The court considered whether the marital presumption could be overcome by genetic evidence and the child's best interests before adjudicating parentage.
Pablo Perez sought to establish paternity in probate court to inherit from his alleged father's estate. The court evaluated whether the state's requirement of a lifetime adjudication was substantially related to preventing fraudulent claims before allowing the claim to proceed.
A court judgment in a paternity action can adjudicate a different individual as the legal father even if another man appears on birth records. The proceeding allows introduction of genetic testing and other evidence to overcome any initial presumption or acknowledgment.
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The petitioner must notify any presumed, acknowledged, or adjudicated parent in addition to the birth mother. An existing adjudicated parent such as a second-parent adoptive parent is entitled to notice so that party may intervene.
…dispute); McDaniels v. Carlson , 108 Wash. 2d 299, 310, 738 P. 2d 254, 261 (1987) (elucidating "best interests" standard in paternity suit context). More broadly, a search of current state custody and visitation laws reveals fully 698 separate references to the "best interest of the child" standard, a number that, at a…
…illustrate the constitutional defect of § 12. Sherman Gordon was found to be the father of Deta Mona in a state-court paternity action prior to his death. On the strength of that finding, he was ordered to contribute to the support of his child. That adjudication should be equally sufficient to establish Deta Mona's right…
…by the parties in the District Court, are as follows. In January 1972, when appellee was a minor and a high school student, a paternity action was instituted against him in Milwaukee County Court, alleging that he was the father of a baby girl born out of wedlock on July 5, 1971. After he appeared and admitted that he was the…
…452 U. S. 1 (1981), we extended this principle of meaningful participation to a “quasi-criminal” proceeding and held that, in a
…the issue whether a law firm may disclose confidential information of one co-client to another co-client. Specifically, in this paternity action, the mother's former law firm, which contemporaneously represented the father and his wife in planning their estates, seeks to disclose to the wife the existence of the father's…
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A party may challenge the result only by presenting other compliant genetic testing that either excludes the identified individual or identifies a different possible genetic parent. Non-genetic evidence alone is insufficient to impeach a qualifying test.
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Court-ordered genetic testing must be performed in a laboratory accredited by the AABB or another body designated by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Certification for clinical trials or compliance with defense regulations alone does not satisfy the requirement.
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A proceeding to overcome a presumption of parentage may be commenced after the child becomes an adult only if the child initiates the action. A third party such as a genetic donor lacks standing to file independently once the child is an adult.
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No. Such a deadline fails intermediate scrutiny when it is not substantially related to preventing stale or fraudulent claims and when no evidence shows that marital children face comparable restrictions.
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