Also known as: Uniform Parentage Act · 1973 Uniform Parentage Act · UPA (1973) · UPA · Uniform Parentage Act of 1973
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A model statute that establishes rules for determining the existence of a parent-child relationship. It creates presumptions of parentage arising from marriage, cohabitation, and holding out a child as one's own.
Uma Upadhyay and her spouse arranged for a gestational surrogate to carry a child conceived with donor gametes. After birth the surrogate relinquished the child and the couple took the infant home. When a probate dispute later arose over the child's status as an heir, the court applied the Uniform Parentage Act to confirm the couple's legal parentage based on the marital presumption.
Ulrike Ulrich and her partner agreed that the partner would undergo artificial insemination with anonymous donor sperm. After the twins were born Ulrike resided with them, supported them financially, and presented them to family and school officials as her own children. When a support action was filed the court held Ulrike was a legal parent under the Uniform Parentage Act because she had received the children into her home and held them out as her own.
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Uma Underwood gave birth to a child while married to Ulf Ulfsson. Years later another man sought to establish genetic paternity and displace Ulf's status. The court applied the Uniform Parentage Act marital presumption and required that any competing claim be resolved only through a formal adjudication rather than by genetic evidence alone.
Ugo Ucelli had a brief relationship with a woman who later placed their child for adoption. He had never lived with the child or provided support and had not registered with the state's putative-father registry. When he sought to block the adoption the court held that the Uniform Parentage Act did not require notice to a father whose only connection was biology.
Uri Underwood and his wife arranged for a gestational surrogate to carry an embryo created with their gametes. After the surrogate gave birth a dispute arose over legal parentage. The court applied the Uniform Parentage Act and confirmed parentage because the couple had received the child into their home and held the child out as their own.
The Act creates a presumption when a child is born during a marriage or within three hundred days after its termination. It also creates a presumption when an individual resides with a child for the first two years of life and openly holds the child out as the individual's own.
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A presumption may be overcome only by an adjudication under Article 6 or a valid denial of parentage under Article 3. Genetic evidence alone does not automatically rebut the presumption.
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A proceeding may be commenced after the child becomes an adult only if the child initiates the proceeding. A third party lacks standing to file after majority unless the child has also petitioned.
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Testing must be performed in a laboratory accredited by the AABB or an equivalent body designated by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Results must also disclose at least a 99 percent probability using a 0.50 prior probability and a combined relationship index of at least 100 to 1.
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Notice must be given to the woman who gave birth, any individual already established as a parent, any presumed acknowledged or adjudicated parent, and any individual whose parentage is to be adjudicated.
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…attributes of their respective bodies of family law. For example, as of the end of 1982, only eight States had adopted the Uniform Parentage Act. 9A U. L. A. 171 (Supp. 1983). [^maj-12]: See Hafen, Marriage, Kinship, and Sexual Privacy, 81 Mich. L. Rev. 463, 479-481 (1983). [^maj-13]: See Trimble v. Gordon , 430 U. S. 762, 769…