4.__Copies of bills as evidence.__Copies of bills for genetic testing and for prenatal and postnatal health care for the mother and child that are furnished to the adverse party not less than 10 days before the date of a hearing are admissible to establish:

A.__The amount of the charges billed; and

B.__That the charges were reasonable, necessary and customary.

Comment

(This is section 621 of the UPA.)

Source: 42 U.S.C. § 666(a)(5)(F)(ii), see Appendix: Federal IV-D Statute Relating to Parentage, infra; UPA (1973) §§ 10, 13.

Justification for additional testing is provided by subsection (a). If the objecting party can state with specificity the grounds for rejecting a genetic test, and those grounds cannot be clarified under Article 5, retesting should be ordered. For example, if the chain of custody is seriously flawed, or the testing laboratory is not accredited, errors of this sort may be corrected by collecting new specimens and repeating the testing. Unlike the samples collected in a potential criminal proceeding which cannot be replaced, such as a blood alcohol test, the samples in a paternity proceedings remain the same no matter when, or how often, the samples are collected. Any flaw in the original test can be corrected by collection of new samples and additional testing of the individuals.

Maine Comment

This section has been made gender neutral.

§1942.__Consequences of declining genetic testing

1.__Contempt.__An order for genetic testing is enforceable by contempt.

2.__Adjudication contrary to position.__If an individual whose paternity is being determined declines to submit to genetic testing ordered by the court, the court for that reason may adjudicate parentage contrary to the position of that individual.