| | | Although the Maine Supreme Judicial Court has recognized the | | equitable remedy of de facto parent, the UPA does not address the | | de facto parentage. The UPA establishes who is the parent at the | | time of conception, birth and for the first two years of a | | child's life. In contrast, a de facto parent-child relationship | | develops between a third person and a child over time. A court | | may exercise its equitable jurisdiction and find, based on the | | circumstances of a particular case, that a third person is a de | | facto parent and consider an award of parental rights and | | responsibilities based on the best interest of the child. See | | (C.E.W. v. D.E.W., 2004 ME 43; Young v. Young, 2004 ME 44. The | | UPA does not alter or weaken the equitable remedy of de facto | | parent, a remedy that exists independent of the UPA. |
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| | | §1834.__Court of this State |
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| | | The District Court is authorized to adjudicate parentage under | | this chapter, except that the Superior Court and the Probate | | Court are authorized to adjudicate parentage under this chapter | | when parentage is an issue in a proceeding or when a parentage | | proceeding is joined with another proceeding as provided under | | section 1930. |
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| | | (This is section 104 of the UPA.) |
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| | | Source: UPA (1973) § 8(a). |
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| | | The court having jurisdiction over parentage proceedings under | | this Act should be identified here. Although a proceeding to | | determine parentage is most often associated with an action to | | establish a child support order, the Act departs from the choice | | made by the UIFSA (1996) § 102, which allows for the | | establishment of a child support order by an administrative | | agency. Insofar as establishment of parentage is concerned, the | | new UPA reflects the deliberate decision by NCCUSL that an | | "adjudication" should require a judicial proceeding. This | | procedure is consistent with the practice of most states. In | | fact, very few states provide for the resolution of disputed | | paternity through administrative processes, which, of course, is | | a policy judgment for the State legislature to make. |
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| | | The term "tribunal" found in UIFSA to describe both courts and | | agencies is not employed in the Act. Rather, the dispute | | resolution entity in UPA (2002) is limited to a "court." UPA | | (2002) conforms to the congressional determination that parentage | | may also be established by an acknowledgment of parentage under | | Article 3. Article 7 allows parentage to be established in a | | written record that presumably could then be approved by an |
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