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*:
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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
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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
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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
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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
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a.
he has acknowledged his paternity of the child in writing filed with the registrar
of vital statistics,
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b.
with his consent, he is named as the child's father on the child's birth certificate,
or
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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
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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
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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
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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:
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1.
Evidence of sexual intercourse between the mother and alleged father at any possible
time of conception;
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2.
An expert's opinion concerning the statistical probability of the alleged father's
paternity based upon the duration of the mother's pregnancy;
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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;
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4.
Medical or anthropological evidence relating to the alleged father's paternity of
the child based on tests performed by experts; and
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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:
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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
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2.
genetic testing excluding the man as the father or identifying another man to be the
father of the child.
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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.
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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.
NOTE: “Assisted reproduction" means a method of causing pregnancy other than sexual intercourse.
The term includes: intrauterine insemination; donation of eggs; donation of embryos;
in vitro fertilization and transfer of embryos; and intracytoplasmic sperm injection.
*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.