Pretrial Recommendations

Pretrial Recommendations. (a) On the basis of the information produced at the pretrial hearing, the judge or referee conducting the hearing shall evaluate the probability of determining the existence or nonexistence of the father and child relationship in a trial and whether a judicial declaration of the relationship would be in the best interest of the child. On the basis of the evaluation, an appropriate recommendation for settlement shall be made to the parties, which may include any of the following: (1) That the action be dismissed with or without prejudice; (2) That the alleged father voluntarily acknowledge his paternity of the child. (b) If the parties accept a recommendation made in accordance with subsection (a) of this section, judgment shall be entered accordingly. (c) If a party refuses to accept a recommendation made under subsection (a) of this section and blood tests have not been taken, the court shall require the parties to submit to blood tests, if practicable. Thereafter the judge or referee shall make an appropriate final recommendation. If a party refuses to accept the final recommendation, the action shall be set for trial. (d) The guardian ad litem may accept or refuse to accept a recommendation under this section. (e) The informal hearing may be terminated and the action set for trial if the judge or referee conducting the hearing finds it unlikely that all parties would accept a recommendation he might make under subsection (a) or (c) of this section. Source: PL 4-38, § 13.