The Uniform Parentage Act (UPA) is a legislative act originally promulgated in 1973 by the National Conference of Commissioners of Uniform State Laws. The 1973 original version of the act was created to address the need for new state legislation, because at the time the bulk of the law on the subject of children born out of wedlock was unconstitutional or led to doubt. [1] It was amended in 2002 and in 2017. The Act serves to provide a uniform legal framework for establishing paternity of minor children born to married and unmarried couples. [2] It allows more than two people to be legally recognized as parents. [3]
The 2002 revisions include:
The UPA (2002) also omitted some substantive provisions from the original 1973 version involving child support and custody, since other state law provided for those provisions. [4]
According to the Uniform Law Commission, the major changes are: [5]
The original version of the Uniform Parentage Act was enacted by 16 states: Alabama, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas and Washington. [6]
The 2002 Revision has been enacted by 11 states: Alabama, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming. [7]
As of March 2022 [update] , the UPA of 2017 has been enacted in California, Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. [8] Colorado enacted similar legislation. [9]
At least five more states are considering the 2017 revision: Hawaii, Kansas, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. [10]
Article 1: General Provisions
Article 2: Parent-Child Relationship
Article 3: Voluntary Acknowledgment of Parentage
Article 4: Registry of Paternity
Article 5: Genetic Testing
Article 6: Proceeding to Adjudicate Parentage
Article 7: Assisted Reproduction
Article 8: Surrogacy Agreement
Article 9: Information About Donor
Article 10: Miscellaneous Provisions
Family law is an area of the law that deals with family matters and domestic relations.
Paternity law refers to body of law underlying legal relationship between a father and his biological or adopted children and deals with the rights and obligations of both the father and the child to each other as well as to others. A child's paternity may be relevant in relation to issues of legitimacy, inheritance and rights to a putative father's title or surname, as well as the biological father's rights to child custody in the case of separation or divorce and obligations for child support.
DNA paternity testing is the use of DNA profiles to determine whether an individual is the biological parent of another individual. Paternity testing can be especially important when the rights and duties of the father are in issue and a child's paternity is in doubt. Tests can also determine the likelihood of someone being a biological grandparent. Though genetic testing is the most reliable standard, older methods also exist, including ABO blood group typing, analysis of various other proteins and enzymes, or using human leukocyte antigen antigens. The current techniques for paternity testing are using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). Paternity testing can now also be performed while the woman is still pregnant from a blood draw.
Surrogacy is an arrangement, often supported by a legal agreement, whereby a woman agrees to delivery/labour on behalf of another couple or person, who will become the child's parent(s) after birth. People may seek a surrogacy arrangement when a couple or single woman do not wish to carry a pregnancy themselves, when pregnancy is medically impossible, when pregnancy risks are dangerous for the intended mother, or when a single man or a male same sex couple wish to have a child.
The Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) is one of the several United States Uniform Acts proposed by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL). Forty-nine states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have adopted the UETA. Its purpose is to harmonize state laws concerning retention of paper records and the validity of electronic signatures.
The Uniform Partnership Act (UPA), which includes revisions that are sometimes called the Revised Uniform Partnership Act (RUPA), is a uniform act, proposed by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws ("NCCUSL") for the governance of business partnerships by U.S. States. Several versions of UPA have been promulgated by the NCCUSL, the earliest having been put forth in 1914, and the most recent in 1997.
The main family law of Japan is Part IV of Civil Code. The Family Register Act contains provisions relating to the family register and notifications to the public office.
The Uniform Probate Code is a uniform act drafted by National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) governing inheritance and the decedents' estates in the United States. The primary purposes of the act were to streamline the probate process and to standardize and modernize the various state laws governing wills, trusts, and intestacy.
The Uniform Adoption Act (1994) is a model law proposed by the U.S. Uniform Law Commission. It attempts to "be a comprehensive and uniform state adoption code that:
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in the U.S. state of Minnesota have the same rights and responsibilities as non-LGBT people. Minnesota became the first U.S. state to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in 1993, protecting LGBT people from discrimination in the fields of employment, housing, and public accommodations. In 2013, the state legalized same-sex marriage, after a bill allowing such marriages was passed by the Minnesota Legislature and subsequently signed into law by Governor Mark Dayton. This followed a 2012 ballot measure in which voters rejected constitutionally banning same-sex marriage.
The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the Australian state of South Australia are advanced and well-established. South Australia has had a chequered history with respect to the rights of LGBT people. Initially, the state was a national pioneer of LGBT rights in Australia, being the first in the country to decriminalise homosexuality and to introduce a non-discriminatory age of consent for all sexual activity. Subsequently, the state fell behind other Australian jurisdictions in areas including relationship recognition and parenting, with the most recent law reforms regarding the recognition of same-sex relationships, LGBT adoption and strengthened anti-discrimination laws passed in 2016 and went into effect in 2017.
In the United States of America, the putative father registry is a state level legal option for unmarried men to document through a notary public any woman they engage with in intercourse, for the purpose of retaining parental rights for any child they may father.
The establishment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in the U.S. state of Connecticut is a recent phenomenon, with most advances in LGBT rights taking place in the late 20th century and early 21st century. Connecticut was the second U.S. state to enact two major pieces of pro-LGBT legislation; the repeal of the sodomy law in 1971 and the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2008. State law bans unfair discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing and public accommodations, and both conversion therapy and the gay panic defense are outlawed in the state.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the U.S. state of Hawaii enjoy the same rights as non-LGBT people. Same-sex sexual activity has been legal since 1973; Hawaii being one of the first six states to legalize it. In 1993, a ruling by the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court made Hawaii the first state to consider legalizing same-sex marriage. Following the approval of the Hawaii Marriage Equality Act in November 2013, same-sex couples have been allowed to marry on the islands. Additionally, Hawaii law prohibits discrimination on the basis of both sexual orientation and gender identity, and the use of conversion therapy on minors has been banned since July 2018. Gay and lesbian couples enjoy the same rights, benefits and treatment as opposite-sex couples, including the right to marry and adopt.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the U.S. state of Rhode Island have the same legal rights as non-LGBT people. Rhode Island established two types of major relationship recognition for same-sex couples, starting with civil unions on July 1, 2011, and then on August 1, 2013 with same-sex marriage. Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity is outlawed within the state namely in the areas of employment, housing, healthcare and public accommodations. In addition, conversion therapy on minors has been banned since 2017.
The legal aspects of surrogacy in any particular jurisdiction tend to hinge on a few central questions:
Law in Australia with regard to children is often based on what is considered to be in the best interest of the child. The traditional and often used assumption is that children need both a mother and a father, which plays an important role in divorce and custodial proceedings, and has carried over into adoption and fertility procedures. As of April 2018 all Australian states and territories allow adoption by same-sex couples.
Surrogacy is legal in New Zealand if it is performed altruistically, where the surrogate donates her services selflessly, without any compensation beyond the coverage of expenses. Commercial surrogacy, where the surrogate is paid in addition to the coverage of expenses, is not legal. There is a lack of specific legislation and regulations dealing with surrogacy, though the recent increase in surrogacy cases has led to a number of amendments. New Zealand is party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and ratified it in April 1993. The primary principle of this convention is that the best interests of the child are paramount, which must then encompass all surrogacy agreements and regulations. The lack of clear surrogacy legislation in New Zealand has led to many couples engaging in reproductive tourism in order to ensure the surrogacy is successful. This has the potential to significantly impact the human rights of all of the parties involved.
The Uniform Fiduciary Income and Principal Act (UFIPA) is one of the uniform acts that have been proposed in an attempt to harmonize the law in all fifty U.S. states. UFIPA was finalized and adopted by the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) in 2018.
M.R. and D.R. & ors v An tArd-Chláraitheoir & ors, [2014] IESC 60 is an Irish Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the Civil Registration Act 2004 only allows the birth mother to be on the birth certificate. Thus, children born through surrogacy will have the name of their birth mother on their birth certificate and not of the genetic mother, who intends to raise them.