HB590 Alabama 2019 Session

Summary

Primary Sponsor

Gil Isbell

Republican

Session

Regular Session 2019

Title

Children, paternity, to enable a man to challenge presumption of paternity if he believes he is the biological father of a child, positive test results in loss of standing for presumed father, Secs. 26-17-604, 26-17-607 am'd.

Description

Under existing law, a man is presumed to be the father of a child if he and the mother of the child are married to each other and the child is born during the marriage. If the presumed father persists in his status as the legal father of a child, neither the mother nor any other individual may maintain an action to disprove paternity.

This bill would authorize a man who is not the presumed father of a child but who believes himself to be that child's biological father, to petition the court under certain circumstances for genetic testing to challenge the presumption of paternity, and would provide that if the genetic testing discloses results which identify that man as the biological father, a court shall make a finding of paternity in favor of that man which would result in a loss of standing for the presumed father.

This bill would also provide that a presumed father who fails to answer the court or participate in related proceedings would be deemed to have ceased in his persistence as the presumed father.

This bill would also provide a statute of limitations of four years for a man who is not a child's presumed father to petition for an establishment of paternity, with the exception that a man is not bound by the statute of limitations if he married the mother of a child in apparent compliance with the law, the child was born during the marriage or 300 days after the marriage, the presumed father was not in physical contact with the mother during any period of time in which the child could have been conceived, the presumed father has not held himself out to be the father of the child during the child's life, and the child has not been adopted.

This bill would also provide that standing to petition for an establishment of paternity ceases upon the adoption of the child.

This bill would also provide that standing to petition for an establishment of paternity ceases if the presumed father is both shown to have been in physical contact with the mother during any period of time in which the child could have been conceived and to have held himself out to be the father of the child at any point during the child's life.

This bill would also clarify an inconsistency in existing law relating to jurisdiction.

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Subjects

Paternity