26:8-30 Execution, return of certificate of birth; availability of certificate of parentage; challenge to acknowledgment of paternity.

26:8-30. The attending physician, midwife or person acting as the agent of the physician or midwife, who was in attendance upon the birth shall be responsible for the proper execution and return of a certificate of birth, which certificate shall be upon the form provided or approved by the State department, and for making available to the mother and biological father a Certificate of Parentage along with related information as required by the State IV-D agency and pursuant to section 452(a)(F) of the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.s.652(a)(F). It shall be the responsibility of personnel at the hospital or birthing facility to offer an opportunity to the child's biological father to execute a Certificate of Parentage. Failure of the biological father or mother to execute the Certificate of Parentage and the date of the request shall be noted on the Certificate of Parentage. The Certificate of Parentage shall be filed with the State IV-D agency or its designee. Establishment and enforcement of child support matters shall not be permitted when a legal action is pending in the case, such as adoption, or State law prohibits such intervention.

For the purposes of this section, "State IV-D agency" means the agency in the Department of Human Services designated to administer the Title IV-D Child Support Program.

A signed voluntary acknowledgment of paternity may be challenged in court within 60 days from the date of the signing of the Certificate of Parentage or by the date of the establishment of a support order to which the signatory is a party, whichever date is earlier. The challenge may be made only on the basis of fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact, with the burden of proof upon the challenger, and the legal responsibilities of any signatory arising from the acknowledgment may not be suspended during the challenge, except for good cause shown. A signed voluntary acknowledgment of paternity shall be considered a legal finding of paternity with the same force and effect as a court order or judgment establishing paternity. No judicial or administrative proceedings are required to ratify an unchallenged acknowledgment of paternity.

Amended 1965, c.78, s.52; 1994, c.164, s.4; 1998, c.1, s.44; 1998, c.20,s.5.