The DNA Paternity Test: Legislating the Future Paternity Action

Holding that a mother was not entitled to pursue a paternity action after a child\u27s 18th birthday; however, had the mother established paternity prior to the child\u27s 18th birthday, or the child had independently established the same, the mother or the child would have been entitled to seek child support from the alleged father of the destitute adult child.

The DNA Paternity Test: Legislating the Future Paternity Action

Individuals brought action under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), asserting that two of them had been switched at birth in 1946 and sent home with the wrong mothers due to the negligence of the United States

The DNA Paternity Test: Legislating the Future Paternity Action

Background:Investors brought Securities Act suits against corporation, individual directors, controlling shareholder, and investment bankers, alleging false registration statement

The DNA Paternity Test: Legislating the Future Paternity Action

The fact-specific holding “Summary judgment declaring defendant\u27s paternity was improperly granted because a statutory conclusive presumption of paternity where scientific probability of paternity was 99 percent or greater violated defendant\u27s right to due process of law.

The DNA Paternity Test: Legislating the Future Paternity Action

The fact-specific holding “In an action for child support, summary judgment in favor of a mother was erroneous because blood tests were not conclusive evidence of the father\u27s paternity, but were only one factor in the totality ofthe evidence presented on the question.

The DNA Paternity Test: Legislating the Future Paternity Action

The fact-specific holding“It was an abuse of discretion to order the destruction of decedent\u27s sperm without first determining the validity of his will and his contract with the sperm bank, both of which contained instructions regarding his vials of sperm.

The DNA Paternity Test: Legislating the Future Paternity Action

Barring a mother from relitigating the issue of paternity four years after a divorce decree deciding child custody matters

The DNA Paternity Test: Legislating the Future Paternity Action

This Article will first briefly examine the historical development of the paternity suit in the beginning of Part II. Part II will then focus upon the standards of proof, presumptions and affirmative defenses concomitant to the traditional paternity action. Part III will examine the concepts and legal applications behind blood group / genetic marker testing and the probability formulas derived from these tests used to exclude or include a putative father. Part IV will examine the technology behind DNA paternity testing and its current evidentiary admissibility. Part V will discuss some of the substantive and public policy issues relating to paternity determinations. Finally, in Part VI, we offer our version of a possible model uniform paternity statute which would create either a rebuttable or a conclusive presumption when the paternity test results achieve a certain level indicating paternity