63.2-1913 - Administrative establishment of paternity.
§ 63.2-1913. Administrative establishment of paternity.
The Department may establish the parent and child relationship between achild and a man upon request, verified by oath or affirmation, filed by achild, a parent, a person claiming parentage, a person standing in locoparentis to the child or having legal custody of the child, or arepresentative of the Department or the Department of Juvenile Justice. Therequest may be filed at any time before the child attains the age of eighteenyears.
Pursuant to subsection F of § 63.2-1903, the Department may summons a parentor putative parent to appear in the office of the Division of Child SupportEnforcement to provide such information as may be necessary to the proceeding.
Paternity may be established by a written statement of the father and mothermade under oath acknowledging paternity or scientifically reliable genetictests, including blood tests, which affirm at least a ninety-eight percentprobability of paternity. The Department may order genetic testing and shallpay the costs of such tests, subject to recoupment from the father, ifpaternity is established. Where an original test is contested and additionaltesting is requested, the Department may require advance payment by thecontestant.
Before a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity is accepted by the Departmentas the basis for establishing paternity, the Department shall provide to boththe mother and the putative father a written and oral description of therights and responsibilities of acknowledging paternity and the consequencesthat arise from a signed acknowledgment, including the right to rescind theacknowledgment within the earlier of (i) sixty days from the date of signingor (ii) the date of entry of an order in an administrative or judicialproceeding relating to the child in which the signatory is a party.
A genetic test result affirming at least a ninety-eight percent probabilityof paternity shall have the same legal effect as a judgment entered pursuantto § 20-49.8. When sixty days have elapsed from its signing, a voluntarystatement acknowledging paternity shall have the same legal effect as ajudgment entered pursuant to § 20-49.8 and shall be binding and conclusiveunless, in a subsequent judicial proceeding, the person challenging thestatement establishes that the statement resulted from fraud, duress or amaterial mistake of fact. In any subsequent proceeding in which a statementacknowledging paternity is subject to challenge, the legal responsibilitiesof any person signing it shall not be suspended during the pendency of theproceeding, except for good cause shown.
The order of the Department in proceedings pursuant to this section shall beserved upon the putative father in accordance with the provisions of Chapter8 (§ 8.01-285 et seq.) or Chapter 9 (§ 8.01-328 et seq.) of Title 8.01. TheDepartment shall file a copy of its order determining paternity, includingthe information required by subsection C of § 20-49.8, with the StateRegistrar of Vital Records within thirty days after the acknowledgmentbecomes binding and conclusive or the order otherwise becomes final. Nojudicial or administrative proceeding shall be required to ratify anunchallenged acknowledgment of paternity nor shall the Department or thecourts have any jurisdiction over proceedings to ratify an unchallengedacknowledgment.
(1997, cc. 792, 896, § 63.1-250.1:2; 2002, c. 747.)