Uniform Parentage Act: Paths to Parentage and State Adoption

The Uniform Parentage Act is a model law, written by the Uniform Law Commission, that gives state legislatures a ready-made framework for deciding who counts as a child’s legal parent. It was first published in 1973 and substantially revised in 2002 and again in 2017. Because it is model legislation rather than federal law, it carries no legal force on its own; it applies only in states that have enacted it, and not every state has.

Where a state has adopted it, the act lays out several independent routes to legal parentage. Each route carries the same weight once established, meaning it triggers the same rights and obligations around custody, child support, and inheritance.

The Paths to Legal Parentage

Marital and Holding-Out Presumptions

The oldest and most automatic path is the marital presumption. A person married to the one who gives birth is treated as a parent of the child with no paperwork or court involvement. The presumption also covers a child born within 300 days after a marriage ends through death, divorce, or annulment.¹ A third variation applies when a couple marries after the child’s birth, so long as the person claims parentage and is named on the birth certificate.

The act also recognizes a “holding out” presumption. Someone who lived with a child during the first two years of that child’s life and openly treated the child as their own is presumed to be a parent, regardless of marriage or biology.¹ It matters most for unmarried partners and relatives who stepped into a parental role early.

All of these presumptions are rebuttable. Another person can challenge them in court, usually with genetic testing or evidence that the presumed parent never actually functioned in that role.

Voluntary Acknowledgment of Parentage

Federal law requires every state to offer a simple process for voluntarily acknowledging parentage, built around a hospital-based program available near the time of birth.² Both parents sign an affidavit, and once filed it carries the same legal force as a court judgment of parentage.

Before signing, both parents must be told, orally and in writing, about the legal consequences, their rights, and the alternatives. Either parent can rescind the acknowledgment within 60 days of signing, or before the date of any court or administrative proceeding involving the child, whichever comes first.² After that window closes, the only way to undo an acknowledgment is to go to court and prove fraud, duress, or a material mistake of fact.

This is where signers often get caught off guard. Someone who signs at the hospital believing they are the biological parent, and later finds out they are not, faces an uphill battle if more than 60 days have passed.

Genetic Testing

When parentage is disputed, courts can order genetic testing. Under the act, a person is identified as a genetic parent if the test results show at least a 99 percent probability of parentage (using a prior probability of 0.50) and a combined relationship index of at least 100 to 1.¹ Modern DNA testing routinely clears those thresholds. The only way to challenge a positive result is a second round of testing that either excludes the individual or identifies someone else.

One important limit: genetic testing cannot be used to establish parentage for someone the act classifies as a gamete donor.¹ That firewall is central to how the act treats families formed through assisted reproduction.

De Facto Parentage

The 2017 revision introduced a formal path for someone who has functioned as a parent without any biological or marital tie. This “de facto parent” pathway fills a gap that previously left many long-term caregivers, including stepparents, grandparents, and unmarried partners, legally invisible no matter how central they were to the child’s life.

To be recognized as a de facto parent, the person must prove all seven of the following by clear and convincing evidence:

They lived with the child as a regular member of the household for a significant period.
They engaged in regular, ongoing care of the child.
They took on permanent parental duties without expecting payment.
They treated the child publicly as their own.
They and the child developed a dependent, parent-like bond.
At least one legal parent encouraged or supported that relationship.
Continuing the relationship serves the child’s best interest.

All seven must be satisfied; falling short on even one defeats the claim.¹ The claim must be filed before the child turns 18 and while the child is alive. The requirement that an existing parent “fostered or supported” the relationship is designed to stop someone from asserting parental rights over the objection of both legal parents.

Donors, Surrogates, and Intended Parents

The 2017 revision shifts the lens away from biology and toward intent in cases of assisted reproduction. The question becomes less about whose DNA the child carries and more about who planned to bring the child into their family.

A gamete donor, meaning someone who provides sperm, eggs, or embryos for assisted reproduction, is not a parent of the resulting child.¹ That rule holds whether or not the donation was compensated. It shields donors from unexpected child support claims and shields intended parents from a donor turning up years later with a custody claim.

Surrogacy is handled in two separate frameworks. In gestational surrogacy, where the surrogate carries an embryo created from someone else’s egg, the act does not require advance court approval of the agreement, and the intended parents can obtain a parentage order either before or after birth. In genetic surrogacy, where the surrogate’s own egg is used, the agreement must be validated by a court before any procedures begin, and the genetic surrogate retains the right to withdraw consent at any time up to 72 hours after the child’s birth by delivering a notarized notice to each intended parent.¹

Both types of surrogacy require everyone involved to meet minimum eligibility standards. The surrogate must be at least 21, must have previously given birth to at least one child, must complete a medical evaluation and a mental health consultation, and must have independent legal representation. The intended parents face the same age, medical, mental health, and independent-counsel requirements.¹

Putative Father Registries

The 2002 revision introduced the putative father registry, which many states now maintain. A putative father is an unmarried man who claims to be, or is alleged to be, the biological father of a child. By registering, he preserves his right to receive notice of any adoption or termination-of-parental-rights proceedings involving that child.

The consequences of missing the deadline are severe. A man who does not register forfeits his right to notice of adoption proceedings and his right to object. Courts have repeatedly held the burden to register falls entirely on the father. Ignorance of the registry’s existence, or even ignorance that a child was conceived, is generally not accepted as an excuse. Several states treat the act of sexual intercourse itself as constructive notice that a pregnancy and adoption are possible.

In roughly ten states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, and Virginia, the registry is the sole route to a right of notice. In those states, a man who fails to register has no legal avenue to contest an adoption after the fact, regardless of circumstances.

Why State Adoption Matters If You Move

Because the act is a model law, it only governs where a legislature has enacted it. As of recent legislative sessions, the 2017 version has been adopted in at least California, Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, with other states introducing bills in later years. Some states still operate under the 1973 or 2002 version. Others have never adopted any version and rely entirely on their own statutes and case law.

The result is a patchwork, and it has real consequences for families who relocate. A parent recognized through a surrogacy agreement in Washington may face uncertainty in a state that restricts or does not address surrogacy. A de facto parent whose status was established in Vermont may find the concept does not exist in their new state’s law.

Federal law offers some protection through the Full Faith and Credit statute, which requires every state to enforce custody and visitation orders from another state’s courts, provided the original court had proper jurisdiction.³ That statute was written for custody disputes, though, and how courts apply it to standalone parentage orders remains inconsistent. A parentage judgment is not always treated the same as a custody determination, which leaves room for a receiving state to question it.

Families in this situation often turn to second-parent adoption as added insurance. Even where a parent already holds a valid parentage order, adopting the child through the new state’s courts creates a locally recognized legal relationship that is harder to challenge. For families formed through assisted reproduction, surrogacy, or non-biological bonds, checking whether the destination state has adopted the 2017 act is worth doing before any move.

1
Uniform Law Commission. Uniform Parentage Act (2017)
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 666 – Requirement of Statutorily Prescribed Procedures to Improve Effectiveness of Child Support Enforcement
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1738A – Full Faith and Credit Given to Child Custody Determinations