LD 1526
pg. 2
Page 1 of 118 An Act To Enact the Uniform Parentage Act and Conforming Amendments and Additio... Page 3 of 118
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LR 134
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Case law has not always reached consistent results in
construing UPA (1973). Moreover, widely differing treatment on
subjects not dealt with by the Act has been common. For example,
California courts have held that a nonmarital father does not

 
have standing to sue an intact family to assert his rights of
fatherhood. Another UPA (1973) state, Colorado, has declared that
under its state constitution the father may not be denied such
rights. Texas, which has adopted many of the provisions of UPA
(1973), reached much the same conclusion. Similarly, a judgment's
binding effect on the child or on others seeking to claim a
benefit of the judgment or to attack the judgment collaterally is
confused in the case law. Adding to the confusion is the fact
that UPA (1973) is entirely silent regarding the relationship
between a divorce and a determination of parentage. Finally, the
incredible scientific advances in parentage testing since 1973
warrant a thoroughgoing revision of the Act.

 
Beginning in the 1980s, states began to adopt paternity
registries in an attempt to deal with the risk of a man's
subsequent claim of paternity after the mother relinquishes a
child for adoption. Although at that time the Conference rejected
a paternity registry as a solution, it promulgated the Uniform
Putative and Unknown Fathers Act in 1988 (UPUFA) to deal with the
rights of such men. However, UPUFA has not been enacted by any
state. In 1988 the Conference also adopted the Uniform Status of
Children of Assisted Conception Act (USCACA). Assisted
reproduction and gestational agreements became commonplace in the
1990s, long after the promulgation of UPA (1973). The USCACA
resembled a model act more than a uniform act because it provided
two opposing options regarding "gestational agreements." To date,
only two states have enacted USCACA, each choosing a different
option.

 
The promulgation of the Uniform Parentage Act in 2000, as
amended in 2002, is now the official recommendation of the
Conference on the subject of parentage. This Act relegates to
history all of the earlier uniform acts dealing with parentage,
to wit, UPA (1973). UPUFA (1988), and USCACA (1988). The
amendments of 2002 are the end-result of objections lodged by the
American Bar Association Section of Individual Rights and
Responsibilities and the ABA Committee on the Unmet Legal Needs
of Children, based on the view that in certain respects the 2000
version did not adequately treat a child of unmarried parents
equally with a child of married parents. Because equal treatment
of nonmarital children was a hallmark of the 1973 Act, the
objections caused the drafters of the 2000 version to reconsider
certain sections of the Act. Through extended discussion and a
meeting of representatives of all the entities involved, a
determination was made that the objections had merit. As a result
of this process, the amendments shown in this Act were presented


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