TN 48 (05-22)

GN 00306.665 Washington Intestacy Laws

Child or father acquires the status of child or parent as follows:

A. A court of competent jurisdiction decrees or finds that such a relationship exists. For claims filed on or after 11/27/98, or pending on that date, an SSA adjudicator may make a paternity determination using a preponderance of the evidence.

B. A man is presumed to be the natural father of a child for all intents and purposes if*:

1. 1. 

   He and the child's natural mother are or have been married to each other and the child is born during the marriage, or within 300 days after the marriage is terminated by death, annulment, declaration of invalidity, divorce, or dissolution, or after a decree of separation is entered by a court; or
   

2. 2. 

   Prior to 07/01/02, before the child's birth, he and the child's natural mother have attempted to marry each other by a marriage solemnized in apparent compliance with law, although the attempted marriage is or could be declared invalid, and the child is born within 300 days after the termination of cohabitation; or
   

3. 3. 

   Effective 07/01/02, before the birth of the child, he and the mother of the child married each other in apparent compliance with law, even if the attempted marriage is, or could be, declared invalid and the child is born during the invalid marriage or within 300 hundred days after its termination by death, annulment, dissolution of marriage, legal separation, or declaration of invalidity; or
   

4. 4. 

   or attempted to marry, each other by a marriage solemnized in apparent compliance with law, although the attempted marriage is or could be declared invalid, and

   1. a. 

      he has acknowledged his paternity of the child in writing filed with the registrar of vital statistics,

   2. b. 

      with his consent, he is named as the child's father on the child's birth certificate, or

   3. c. 

      prior to 07/01/02, he is obligated to support the child under a written voluntary promise or by court order; effective 07/01/02, he promised in a record to support the child as his own; or
      

5. 5. 

   Prior to 07/01/02, while the child is under the age of majority, he receives the child into his home and openly holds out the child as his; or
   

6. 6. 

   Effective 06/07/90, the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service made or accepted a determination that he was the father of the child at the time of the child's entry into the United States and he had the opportunity at the time of the child's entry into the United States to admit or deny the paternal relationship; or
   

7. 7. 

   Effective 06/09/94 through 06/30/02, genetic testing indicates a 98% or greater probability of paternity.

Prior to 07/23/89, if another man is presumed under subsections 1., 2., 3., 4., or 5. of this section to be the child's father, such acknowledgment shall give rise to the presumption of paternity only with the written consent of the otherwise presumed father or after such other presumption has been rebutted.

C. Effective 07/01/02, a man is rebuttably identified as the father of a child if genetic testing indicates at least a 99% probability of paternity, using a prior probability of 0.50, as calculated by using the combined paternity index obtained in the testing; and a combined paternity index of at least one hundred to one.

D. Prior to 07/01/02, a presumption of paternity in B. above may be rebutted in an appropriate action only by clear, cogent, and convincing evidence. If two or more presumptions arise which conflict with each other, the presumption which on the facts is founded on the weightier considerations of policy and logic controls. Evidence relating to paternity may include:

1. 1. 

   Evidence of sexual intercourse between the mother and alleged father at any possible time of conception;

2. 2. 

   An expert's opinion concerning the statistical probability of the alleged father's paternity based upon the duration of the mother's pregnancy;

3. 3. 

   An expert's opinion concerning the impossibility or the statistical probability of the alleged father's paternity based upon blood or genetic test results;

4. 4. 

   Medical or anthropological evidence relating to the alleged father's paternity of the child based on tests performed by experts; and

5. 5. 

   All other evidence relevant to the issue of paternity of the child.

E. Effective 07/01/02, a presumption of paternity in B. or C. above may only be rebutted by a court or SSA adjudication. The paternity of a child having a presumed father may be disproved by:

1. 1. 

   evidence showing that the presumed father and the mother of the child did not cohabit or engage in sexual intercourse with each other during the probable time of conception, and the presumed father never openly treated the child as his own; or

2. 2. 

   genetic testing excluding the man as the father or identifying another man to be the father of the child.
   

1. F. 

   A mother of a child and a man claiming to be the father of the child conceived through sexual intercourse with the mother may sign an acknowledgment of paternity with intent to establish the man’s paternity.
   

   1. Prior to 07/01/97, the man must acknowledge his paternity of the child by affidavit or in a writing filed with the State office of vital statistics, which shall promptly inform the mother of the filing of the acknowledgment, and she does not dispute the acknowledgment within a reasonable time after being informed thereof, in a writing filed with the registrar of vital statistics;
   

   2. On or after 07/01/97, an acknowledgment of paternity must:
   

   a. be in a record;

   b. be signed under penalty of perjury by the mother and by the man seeking to establish paternity;

   c. state that the child whose paternity is being acknowledged does not have a presumed father (or has a presumed father whose full name is stated in the acknowledgment); and does not have another acknowledged or adjudicated father;

   d. state whether there has been genetic testing and if so, that the acknowledging man’s claim of paternity is consistent with the results of genetic testing; and

   e. state that the signatories understand that an acknowledgment is the equivalent of a judicial adjudication of paternity of the child and that a challenge to the acknowledgment is permitted only under limited circumstances and is barred after two years.
   

   A valid acknowledgment of paternity filed with the state registrar of vital statistics is equivalent to an adjudication of paternity of a child and confers upon the acknowledged father all the rights and duties of a parent. For information on the use of a Washington State birth record as proof of paternity for an illegitimate child, see precedent opinion PR 21-043 in PR 01210.053. An acknowledgment of paternity may be signed before the birth of the child and takes effect on the birth of the child or the filing of the acknowledgment with the state registrar of vital statistics, whichever occurs later.
   

2. G. 

   The following provisions concerning assisted reproduction in a marriage or non-marriage context are effective 07/01/02 (see NOTE below):
   

   1. The husband of a wife who gives birth to a child by means of assisted reproduction is the father of the child. The husband and wife must consent in a record to the assisted reproduction. If the husband has not signed the consent, he is the father if he and his wife openly treated the child as their own.

   2. If the marriage is dissolved before assisted reproduction occurs, the former spouse is not a parent of the resulting child unless the former spouse consented in a record that if assisted reproduction were to occur after the divorce, the former spouse would be a parent of the child.

   3. If a spouse dies before assisted reproduction occurs, the deceased spouse is not a parent of the resulting child unless the deceased spouse consented in a record that if assisted reproduction were to occur after death, the deceased spouse would be a parent of the child.

   4. In a non-marriage context, a donor is not a parent of a child conceived by means of assisted reproduction.

*The provisions under this section provided only inheritance rights before Washington State legislation effective 04/23/89. This entry reflects the relevant provisions of Washington’s new Uniform Parentage Act, which became effective 07/01/02.