Presumption Of Paternity Analysis

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Parentage & Presumption of Paternity

Current Law

Parentage can be defined as the origins of ones parents , and can be deemed imperative in a child’s knowledge of their personal identity. It is in the child’s interests to have accurate knowledge of their genetic lineage, and in the interests of justice that doubt about parentage can be conclusively resolved. In Ireland currently, parentage and presumption of paternity are governed by The Status of Children Act 1987. For married parents The Status of Children Act 1987 provides a presumption of paternity where a couple is married and presumes that the husband is the father of the child . Like all legal presumptions this can be rebutted by evidence on the balance of probabilities . In the case …show more content…

It provided a degree of certainty when there was no definite way of proving paternity. With the introduction of the Status of Children Act 1987, the issue of illegitimacy was removed. Therefore, recently its necessity has been questioned as the scope of its applicability has been reduced by the increasing number of children born to unmarried parents. In 2013, 35.4% of all births were outside of marriage, and 20.2% of all births were to unmarried parents living at the same address . For children whose parents are married at the time of their birth (or up to ten months prior to the birth), the presumption is clearly beneficial. However, for children of unmarried parents, it provides an obstacle to the settlement of further issues such as guardianship, custody and access, and inheritance . For example although both marital and non-marital children have equal rights to inherit from their parents, non-marital children may have the additional burden of having to prove paternity if …show more content…

Part 7 of the Bill is entitled ‘Amendments to the Status of Children Act 1987’, and under section 83 it reasserts the presumption of paternity as set out in s. 46 of the Status of Children Act, 1987 (as amended), In effect this means that where a child is born within 10 months of the termination of the marriage, the woman’s husband is presumed to be the father. Also under section 83, in relation to a married woman, who is living apart from her husband, who has given birth to a child more than 10 months after the date of separation, the time from which the separation begins is clarified and expanded. (2A) states that ‘For the purpose of subsection (2) of this section, the date of the separation of a married woman from her husband shall be deemed to be

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