Title 14, Children

Presence of parent, custodian or guardian at hearings; failure to appear; issuance of bench warrant. (a) It is the responsibility of one (1) or both parents, and the guardian or custodian of an unemancipated minor, if applicable, to appear with the minor before any court of this …

Protection of parental rights; applicability. (a) The liberty of a parent to the care, custody and control of their child is a fundamental right that resides first in the parent. (b) The state, or any agency or political subdivision of the state, shall not infringe the parental r…

Definitions. (a) As used in this act: (i) "Abuse" means as defined by W.S. 14-3-202(a)(ii); (ii) "Authorized agency" means: (A) A public social service agency authorized to care for and place children; or (B) A private child welfare agency certified by the state for such purposes…

Grounds for termination of parent-child relationship; clear and convincing evidence. (a) The parent-child legal relationship may be terminated if any one (1) or more of the following facts is established by clear and convincing evidence: (i) The child has been left in the care of…

Parties authorized to file petition. (a) The petition for the termination of the parent-child relationship shall be filed with the court by: (i) Either parent, when termination of the parent-child legal relationship is sought with respect to the other parent; or (ii) The guardian…

Contents of petition. (a) The petition for the termination of the parent-child legal relationship shall state: (i) The legal name, sex, date and place of birth of the child, if known, and the jurisdictional facts; (ii) The name and residence of the petitioner and his relationship…

Hearing; appointment of guardian ad litem. After the petition has been filed, the court shall appoint a guardian ad litem to represent the child unless the court finds the interests of the child will be represented adequately by the petitioner or another party to the action and a…

Service of petition. (a) The petition shall be served on the following persons: (i) The parent of the child; (ii) The guardian ad litem; (iii) The guardian or next friend of the parent if the parent is a minor; (iv) The department of family services if the child is or has been su…

Social study required; information to be shown; not excluded as hearsay. Upon the filing of a petition by anyone other than an authorized agency as defined by W.S. 14-2-308(a)(ii)(A), the court shall direct that a social study be made by the appropriate county office of public as…

Order terminating the parent-child legal relationship; contents. The order terminating the parent-child legal relationship shall be in writing and shall contain the findings of the court. If the court terminates the parent-child legal relationship of either one (1) or both parent…

Dismissal of petition; continuation of hearing. If the court does not terminate the parent-child legal relationship, it shall dismiss the petition or direct an authorized agency to continue to make efforts to rehabilitate the parent and continue the hearing for no longer than six…

Effect of order of termination. (a) An order terminating the parent-child legal relationship divests the parent of all legal rights and privileges and relieves the child of all duties to that parent except: (i) The order does not divest that parent of duties and support obligatio…

Costs of proceedings; appointment of counsel. (a) The court may appoint counsel for any party who is indigent. Indigency shall be established by written affidavit signed and sworn to by the party or sworn testimony made a part of the record of the proceedings. The affidavit or sw…

Determination of indigency; recovery of payment. (a) In determining whether a person is an indigent party for purposes of W.S. 14-2-318, the court shall consider in addition to any other relevant factors the person's income, property owned, outstanding obligations and the number …

Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as the Wyoming Parentage Act.

Definitions. (a) As used in this act: (i) "Acknowledged father" means a man who has established a father-child relationship under article 6 of this act; (ii) "Adjudicated father" means a man who has been adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction to be the father of a child…

Scope of act; choice of law. (a) This act applies to every determination of parentage in this state. (b) The court shall apply the law of this state to adjudicate the parent-child relationship. The applicable law does not depend on: (i) The place of birth of the child; or (ii) Th…

Court of this state. The district court is authorized to adjudicate parentage under this act.

Protection of participants. Proceedings under this act are subject to other law of this state governing the health, safety, privacy and liberty of a child or other individual who could be jeopardized by disclosure of identifying information, including address, telephone number, p…

Determination of maternity. Provisions of this act relating to determination of paternity apply to determinations of maternity.

Severability clause. If any provision of this act or its application to an individual or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of this act which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this e…

Free transcript for appeal. If a party is financially unable to pay the cost of a transcript, the court shall furnish on request a transcript for purposes of appeal under this act.

Establishment of parent-child relationship. (a) The mother-child relationship is established between a woman and a child by: (i) The woman's having given birth to the child; (ii) An adjudication of the woman's maternity; or (iii) Adoption of the child by the woman. (b) The father…

No discrimination based on marital status. A child born to parents who are not married to each other has the same rights under the law as a child born to parents who are married to each other.

Consequences of establishment of parentage. Unless parental rights are terminated, a parent-child relationship established under this act applies for all purposes, except as otherwise specifically provided by other law of this state.

Presumption of paternity in context of marriage. (a) A man is presumed to be the father of a child if: (i) He and the mother of the child are married to each other and the child is born during the marriage; (ii) He and the mother of the child were married to each other and the ch…

Acknowledgment of paternity. (a) The mother of a child and a man claiming to be the genetic father of the child may sign an acknowledgment of paternity with intent to establish the man's paternity. (b) An acknowledgment of paternity of a child born in Wyoming may be filed with th…

Execution of acknowledgment of paternity. (a) An acknowledgment of paternity shall: (i) Be in a record; (ii) Be signed, or otherwise authenticated, under penalty for false swearing by the mother and by the man seeking to establish his paternity; (iii) State that the child whose p…

Denial of paternity. (a) A presumed father may sign a denial of his paternity. The denial is valid only if: (i) An acknowledgment of paternity signed, or otherwise authenticated, by another man is filed pursuant to W.S. 14-2-605; (ii) The denial is in a record, and is signed, or …

Rules for acknowledgment and denial of paternity. (a) An acknowledgment of paternity and a denial of paternity may be contained in a single document or may be signed in counterparts, and may be filed separately or simultaneously. If the acknowledgement and denial are both necessa…

Effect of acknowledgment or denial of paternity. (a) Except as otherwise provided in W.S. 14-2-607 and 14-2-608, a valid acknowledgment of paternity filed with the state office of vital records is equivalent to an adjudication of paternity of a child and confers upon the acknowle…

No filing fee. The state office of vital records shall not charge for filing an acknowledgment of paternity or denial of paternity.

Proceeding for rescission. (a) A signatory may rescind an acknowledgment of paternity or denial of paternity by commencing a proceeding to rescind before the earlier of: (i) Sixty (60) days after the effective date of the acknowledgment or denial, as provided in W.S. 14-2-604; or…

Challenge after expiration of period for rescission. (a) After the period for rescission under W.S. 14-2-607 has expired, a signatory of an acknowledgment of paternity or denial of paternity may commence a proceeding to challenge the acknowledgment or denial only: (i) On the basi…

Procedure for rescission or challenge. (a) Every signatory to an acknowledgment of paternity and any related denial of paternity shall be made a party to a proceeding to rescind or challenge the acknowledgment or denial. (b) For the purpose of rescission of, or challenge to, an a…

Ratification barred. A court or administrative agency conducting a judicial or administrative proceeding is not required or permitted to ratify an unchallenged acknowledgment of paternity.

Full faith and credit. A court of this state shall give full faith and credit to an acknowledgment of paternity or denial of paternity effective in another state if the acknowledgment or denial has been signed and is otherwise in compliance with the law of the other state.

Forms for acknowledgment and denial of paternity. (a) To facilitate compliance with this article, the state office of vital records shall prescribe forms for the acknowledgment of paternity and the denial of paternity. (b) A valid acknowledgment of paternity or denial of paternit…

Release of information. The state office of vital records may release information relating to the acknowledgment of paternity or denial of paternity to a signatory of the acknowledgment or denial, to courts and to the Title IV-D agency of this or another state.

Adoption of rules. The state office of vital records may adopt rules to implement this article.

Scope of article. (a) This article governs genetic testing of an individual to determine parentage, whether the individual: (i) Voluntarily submits to testing; or (ii) Is tested pursuant to an order of the court or a child support enforcement agency.

Order for testing. (a) Except as otherwise provided in this article and article 8 of this act, the court shall order the child and other designated individuals to submit to genetic testing if the request for testing is supported by the sworn statement of a party to the proceeding…

Requirements for genetic testing. (a) Genetic testing shall be of a type reasonably relied upon by experts in the field of genetic testing and performed in a testing laboratory accredited by: (i) The American Association of Blood Banks, or a successor to its functions; (ii) The A…

Report of genetic testing. (a) A report of genetic testing shall be in a record and signed under penalty of perjury by a designee of the testing laboratory. A report made under the requirements of this article is self-authenticating. (b) Documentation from the testing laboratory …

Genetic testing results; rebuttal. (a) Under this act, a man is rebuttably identified as the father of a child if the genetic testing complies with this article and the results disclose that: (i) The man has at least a ninety-nine percent (99%) probability of paternity, using a p…

Costs of genetic testing. (a) Subject to assessment of costs under article 7 of this act, the cost of initial genetic testing shall be advanced: (i) By a child support enforcement agency in a proceeding in which the agency is providing services; (ii) By the individual who made th…