Also known as: presume parentage · presumes parentage · presuming parentage · presumption of parentage · parentage presumption
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A statutory presumption that an individual is the legal parent of a child when the individual is married to the woman who gives birth and the child is born during the marriage or within three hundred days after its termination. The presumption attaches automatically from the marital relationship and timing of birth. It persists unless overcome by a judicial adjudication or a valid statutory denial of parentage.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Paige Porter and Penelope Price separated but never divorced. Penelope gave birth eleven months later during a brief relationship with Preston Pratt. Preston sought to be named the legal parent on the birth certificate. The court treated Paige as the presumed parent because the child was born while the marriage remained legally intact. No adjudication or valid denial had occurred to displace the presumption.
Pilar Pena gave birth while married to Phuong Pham. The couple had lived together since the birth and listed Phuong on employer benefits as the child's second parent. A former partner later obtained genetic testing showing a biological link and petitioned for parentage. The court held that Phuong remained the presumed parent because the child was born during the marriage and no adjudication had yet overcome the presumption.
No. A later-proven genetic connection does not by itself terminate the presumption. The presumption continues unless overcome through a proper judicial adjudication or a valid formal denial of parentage.
Supporting sources
The presumption attaches if the child is born during a legally intact marriage or within three hundred days after its termination by divorce or death. Physical separation or the spouses' subjective belief that the marriage had ended does not prevent the presumption from arising.
…658, 662 [11 Cal.Rptr. 707].) We observed in dicta in Nicholas H. that it would be appropriate to rebut the section 7611 presumption of parentage if “a court decides that the legal rights and obligations of parenthood should devolve upon an unwilling candidate.” ( In re Nicholas H., supra, 28 Cal.4th 56, 70.) But we decline to apply…
…arising from artificial insemination, it presented essentially the same issue facing this Court: whether a statute creating a presumption of parentage
Supporting sources
No. Daily caregiving alone does not create a competing presumption or displace an existing marital presumption. The marital presumption remains effective until rebutted by adjudication or valid denial.
Supporting sources
No. A separation agreement or decree does not terminate the marriage. The presumption therefore continues if the child is born within three hundred days after the marriage ends by death or other final decree.
Supporting sources
Generally no. A proceeding to overcome a presumption may be brought after the child becomes an adult only if the child initiates it. An outside claimant lacks standing to file independently once the child is an adult.
Supporting sources