Title 15, Title 15 Relations

(a) An individual presumed to be a parent or an alleged genetic parent may sign a denial of parentage only in the limited circumstances set forth in this section. (b) A denial of parentage shall be valid only if: (1) An acknowledgment of parentage by another individual has been f…

(a) Completed forms for acknowledgment of parentage and denial of parentage shall be filed with the state registrar for vital records. (b) An acknowledgment of parentage or denial of parentage may be signed before or after the birth of a child. (c) An acknowledgment of parentage …

(a) Except as otherwise provided in §§ 15-8.1-307 and 15-8.1-308, a valid acknowledgment of parentage under § 15-8.1-301, filed with the department of vital records, is equivalent to an adjudication of parentage of a child and confers upon the acknowledged parent all of the right…

If an acknowledgment of parentage or denial of parentage is filed at a hospital, contemporaneously with birth, the department of health shall not charge a filing fee.

(a) A signatory may rescind an acknowledgment of parentage or denial of parentage under this chapter by commencing a court proceeding before the earlier of: (1) Sixty (60) days after the effective date of the acknowledgment or denial, as provided in § 15-8.1-304; or (2) The date …

(a) After the period for rescission under § 15-8.1-307 has expired, a signatory of an acknowledgment of parentage or denial of parentage may commence a proceeding to challenge the acknowledgment or denial only: (1) On the basis of fraud, duress, coercion, threat of harm, or mater…

(a) Every signatory to an acknowledgment of parentage and any related denial of parentage shall be made a party to a proceeding to judicially rescind an acknowledgment under § 15-8.1-307(a) or a challenge to the acknowledgment or denial under § 15-8.1-308. (b) For the purposes of…

(a) The department of vital records shall develop an acknowledgment of parentage form and denial of parentage form for execution of parentage under this chapter. (b) The acknowledgment of parentage form shall provide notice of the alternatives to, the legal consequences of, and t…

The department of health may release information relating to an acknowledgment of parentage under § 15-8.1-301, as set forth in § 23-3-23.

The department of health shall promulgate rules and regulation to implement this chapter.

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, an individual is presumed to be a parent of a child if: (1) The individual and the individual who gave birth to the child are married to each other and the child is born during the marriage; (2) The individual and the individual w…

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, a proceeding to challenge the parentage of an individual whose parentage is presumed under § 15-8.1-401, shall be commenced within two (2) years after the birth of the child. (b) A proceeding to challenge the parentage of …

(a) If two (2) or more conflicting presumptions arise under this chapter, the court shall adjudicate parentage pursuant to § 15-8.1-206. (b) If in a proceeding to adjudicate a presumed parent’s parentage of a child, another individual, in addition to the individual who gave birth…

(a)(1) In a proceeding to adjudicate the parentage of an individual who claims to be a de facto parent of the child, if there is only one other individual who is a parent or has a claim to parentage of the child, the court shall adjudicate the individual who claims to be a de fac…

(a) An individual seeking to be adjudicated a de facto parent of a child shall file a complaint with the family court before the child reaches eighteen (18) years of age. Both the individual seeking to be adjudicated a de facto parent and the child must be alive at the time of th…

This chapter governs procedures and requirements of genetic testing and genetic testing results of an individual to determine parentage and adjudication of parentage based on genetic testing, whether the individual voluntarily submits to testing or is tested pursuant to an order …

Genetic testing shall be of a type reasonably relied upon by scientific and medical experts in the field of genetic testing and performed in a testing laboratory accredited by a national association of blood banks or an accrediting body designated by the secretary of the U.S. Dep…

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, in a proceeding pursuant to this chapter to determine parentage, the court shall order the child and any other individual to submit to genetic testing if a request for testing is supported by the sworn statement of a party: (1) Al…

(a) An individual shall be identified as a genetic parent of a child if the genetic testing of the individual complies with this chapter and the results of testing disclose that the individual has at least a ninety-nine percent (99%) probability of parentage as determined by the …

(a) A report of genetic testing shall be in a record and signed under the penalty of perjury by a designee of the testing laboratory. A report made under the requirements of this chapter is self-authenticating. (b) A party in possession of results of genetic testing shall provide…

(a) Unless waived by the parties, a party intending to rely on the results of genetic testing shall do all of the following: (1) Make the test results available to the other parties to the parentage action at least fifteen (15) days prior to any hearing at which the results may b…

The court shall order additional genetic testing upon the request of a party who contests the result of the initial testing. If the initial genetic testing identified an individual as a genetic parent of the child under § 15-8.1-604, the court shall not order additional testing u…

(a)(1) If genetic testing results, pursuant to § 15-8.1-604, exclude an individual as the genetic parent of a child, the court shall find that individual is not a genetic parent of the child and may not adjudicate the individual as the child’s parent on the basis of genetic testi…

(a) The costs of initial genetic testing shall be paid: (1) By the office of child support services in a proceeding in which the office is providing services, if the office requests such testing; (2) As agreed by the parties or, if the parties cannot agree, by the individual who …

For good cause shown, the court may order genetic testing of a deceased individual.

(a) A report of genetic testing for parentage is exempt from public inspection and copying pursuant to chapter 2 of title 38 (“access to public records act”), and shall be kept confidential and released only as provided in this chapter. (b) An individual shall not intentionally r…

(a) In a proceeding in which a person is alleged to have committed a sexual assault that resulted in the birth of a child, the person giving birth may seek to preclude the establishment of the other person’s parentage. (b) This section shall not apply if the person alleged to hav…

(a) For the purpose of this article, an action to determine the existence of a genetic parent and child relationship is not barred until four (4) years after the child reaches the age of majority. (b) A genetic parent’s liability for past education and necessary support and maint…

This article does not apply to the birth of a child conceived by sexual intercourse or assisted reproduction under a surrogacy agreement under article 8 of this chapter.

(a) A donor is not a parent of a child conceived through assisted reproduction. (b) Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this section, a person who provides a gamete or gametes or an embryo or embryos to be used for assisted reproduction for the person’s spouse is a parent of the re…

An individual who consents under § 15-8.1-704 to assisted reproduction by another individual with the intent to be a parent of a child conceived by the assisted reproduction is a parent of the child.

(a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (b) of this section, the consent described in § 15-8.1-703, must be in a record signed by the individual giving birth to a child conceived by assisted reproduction and the individual who intends to be a parent of the child. (b) In th…

(a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (b) of this section, a spouse may commence a proceeding to challenge his or her parentage of a child born by assisted reproduction during the marriage within two (2) years after the birth of the child if the court finds that the spou…

(a) If a marriage is dissolved by final decree of divorce before transfer or implantation of gametes or embryos, the former spouse is not a parent of the resulting child unless the former spouse consented in a signed record, with notice to the other spouse and the individual givi…

(a) If an individual who intends to be a parent of a child conceived by assisted reproduction dies during the period between the transfer of a gamete or embryo and the birth of the child, the individual’s death does not preclude the establishment of the individual’s parentage of …

(a) An individual consenting to assisted reproduction consistent with this article, an individual who is a parent pursuant to §§ 15-8.1-703 and 15-8.1-704, or the individual giving birth, may commence a proceeding in the family court, before, on, or after birth of a resulting chi…

If due to a laboratory or clinical error, the child is not genetically related to either the intended parent or parents or any donor who donated to the intended parent or parents, the intended parent or parents are the parents of the child unless otherwise determined by the court…

(a) In order to execute an agreement to act as a gestational carrier, an individual shall: (1) Be at least twenty-one (21) years of age; (2) Have completed a medical evaluation; (3) Have completed a mental health consultation by a licensed professional who is independent of the f…

(a) A prospective gestational carrier, that individual’s spouse, if any, and the intended parent or parents may enter into a written agreement that: (1) The prospective gestational carrier agrees to pregnancy by means of assisted reproduction; (2) The prospective gestational carr…

(a)(1) If a gestational carrier agreement satisfies the requirements of this article, the intended parent or parents are the parent or parents of the resulting child and parental rights and responsibilities shall vest exclusively in the intended parent or parents immediately upon…

(a) Before the birth of a resulting child, a party to a gestational carrier agreement may commence a proceeding in the family court or the superior court to obtain a birth order declaring the parentage of a child. After the birth of a resulting child, the family court shall have …

Subject to the jurisdictional standards of chapter 10 of title 8, the court conducting a proceeding under this chapter has exclusive, continuing jurisdiction of all matters arising out of the gestational carrier agreement until a child born to the gestational carrier during the p…

(a) A party to a gestational carrier agreement may withdraw consent to any medical procedure and may terminate the gestational carrier agreement at any time prior to any embryo transfer or implantation by giving written notice of termination to all other parties. (b) Upon termina…

Unless a gestational carrier agreement expressly provides otherwise: (1) The marriage of a gestational carrier or of an intended parent after the agreement has been signed by all parties does not affect the validity of the agreement, the gestational carrier’s spouse’s consent or …

(a) A gestational carrier agreement that does not substantially comply with the requirements of this article is not enforceable. (b) In the event that a gestational carrier agreement does not substantially comply with the requirements of this article, the family court or the supe…

(a) The intended parent or parents are liable for the health care costs of the gestational carrier that are not paid by insurance. As used in this section, “health care costs” means the expenses of all health care provided for assisted reproduction, prenatal care, labor, and deli…