National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws
211 E. Ontario Street, Suite 1300, Chicago, IL 60611
312-915-0195, Fax 312-915-0187, www.nccusl.org
Contact: Michael Kerr, NCCUSL Deputy Executive Director: 312-915-0107
Katie Robinson, NCCUSL Communications Officer: 312-915-5962
For Immediate Release:
UTAH ENACTS UNIFORM PARENTAGE ACT
March 17, 2005 – Utah recently became the fifth state to enact an important state statute which modernizes the law for determining the parentage of children. The Uniform Parentage Act (UPA) – SB 14 – was signed into law by Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. on March 16. The UPA, promulgated in 2000 by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) and amended in 2002, is a significant step forward in the law of parentage which will protect the legal rights and legal status of children.
The UPA is a revision of the Uniform Parentage Act of 1973, a landmark act which abolished all legal distinctions between legitimate and illegitimate children, and provided procedures for determination of paternity where marriage or proof of marriage was lacking. The purpose of the new act remains the same: determining the parentage of a child. However, the 2002 UPA is both more streamlined and comprehensive than the original.
The new Act not only updates many sections from the 1973 act, including a much more comprehensive section on genetic testing, but also has many new provisions. For example, a new section is included in the revision which deals with voluntary acknowledgment of paternity. This is included in an effort to encourage states to adopt nonjudicial means to achieve early determination of paternity.
There is also a new section on establishment of a paternity registry. This allows fathers of children born out of wedlock to register if they wish to be notified of any termination of parental rights or adoption proceedings.
The revision allows standing to challenge the marital presumption of paternity. If a child has a presumed father, i.e. the husband of the mother at the time of birth, issues of paternity can get complex. The right of an "outsider" to claim paternity of a child born to a married woman varies considerably among the states. Some states do not allow such actions while others permit such actions. The revision provides a middle ground. It allows a proceeding which will seek to rebut this presumption of paternity, but the proceeding must be commenced not later than two years after the birth of the child. A two-year period allows an adequate time period to resolve the status of a child within the context of an intact family unit; a longer period may have severe consequences for the child.
The new Uniform Parentage Act, with 2002 Amendments, provides workable and sound rules for determining the parentage of a child. The primary focus remains on protecting the child, who had no voice in often complex circumstances giving rise to the child’s birth. Besides Utah, the UPA has been adopted in Delaware, Texas, Washington and Wyoming.
The UPA has been endorsed by the American Bar Association, the ABA Family Law Section, the ABA Individual Rights and Responsibilities Section, the ABA Steering Committee on the Unmet Legal Needs of Children, the National Child Support Enforcement Association, the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, and the National Association of Public Health Registrars.
The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, now in its 114th year, provides states with non-partisan, well-conceived and well-drafted legislation that brings clarity and stability to critical areas of state statutory law. The organization comprises more than 300 lawyers, judges, and law professors, appointed by the states as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, to research, draft and promote enactment of uniform state laws in areas of state law where uniformity is desirable and practical. Since its inception in 1892, the group has promulgated more than 200 acts, among them such bulwarks of state statutory law as the Uniform Commercial Code, the Uniform Probate Code, and the Uniform Partnership Act. |