Also known as: UPA (2002) · Uniform Parentage Act · UPA 2002
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A uniform statute that establishes rules for determining the existence of a parent-child relationship. The statute recognizes multiple independent bases for parentage, including giving birth, marital and cohabitation presumptions, voluntary acknowledgments, genetic testing, adoption, and assisted reproduction agreements.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Usha Upton and her spouse entered a court-validated gestational surrogacy agreement naming them intended parents before embryo transfer. The surrogate delivered the child. When a later proceeding arose to confirm parentage, the court applied the Uniform Parentage Act provisions governing validated surrogacy arrangements and recognized both spouses as legal parents from the moment of birth.
Una Ueda agreed with her partner to raise twins conceived through anonymous donor insemination. After birth Una resided with the children, provided daily care, and presented them as her own to schools and benefit providers. In a subsequent support action the court determined that Una qualified as a legal parent under the Uniform Parentage Act because she had received the children into her home and held them out as her own.
Unity Underhill gave birth to a child while married to Ulrike Ulrich. A former partner later sought to establish genetic paternity. The court applied the Uniform Parentage Act marital presumption arising from birth during the marriage and required any competing claim to proceed through a formal adjudication rather than automatic displacement by genetic evidence.
Ugo Ucelli had only sporadic contact with his child and never established a substantial relationship. When the mother consented to adoption, the court applied the Uniform Parentage Act notice provisions and determined that Ugo was not entitled to notice because he had not grasped the opportunity to develop a parental relationship protected by the statute.
Ursula Ung and her spouse arranged for a gestational surrogate to carry an embryo created with their gametes under a written agreement. After birth the surrogate asserted parentage. The court applied the Uniform Parentage Act rules recognizing the intent of the intended parents in a gestational surrogacy arrangement and adjudicated parentage in their favor.
The statute provides that a parent-child relationship is established between an individual and a child if the individual gives birth to the child. This basis operates independently of genetic testing, marital presumptions, or consent of any other party.
Supporting sources
A spouse of the woman who gave birth may commence a proceeding to challenge parentage only if the individual did not consent before, on, or after the birth or withdrew consent. The proceeding must also be filed within the two-year limitations period after birth.
…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…
…donor, and received the resulting twin children into her home and held them out as her own, is the children’s parent under the Uniform Parentage Act
…(a)-(d), (f), (g) (housing); Government Code section 12955, subdivision (e) (credit for housing); Civil Code sections 7000-7021 (Uniform Parentage Act
…to require mental and physical health evaluations and home studies. Further guidance may be provided by article eight of the Uniform Parentage Act
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The petitioner must give notice to the woman who gave birth, any individual who is already a parent under the act, any presumed acknowledged or adjudicated parent, and any individual whose parentage is to be adjudicated.
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Genetic testing must be performed in a laboratory accredited by the AABB or an accrediting body designated by the Secretary of Health and Human Services and must disclose at least a 99 percent probability of parentage using a 0.50 prior probability together with a combined relationship index of at least 100 to 1.
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When two or more individuals assert competing claims, the court adjudicates parentage in the best interest of the child after considering the child's age, the length and quality of each relationship, the harm from recognizing or not recognizing each claim, and the legal basis for each asserted parentage.
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