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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>59354</law_id><section_number>63.2-1913</section_number><catch_line>Administrative establishment of paternity</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="63.2">Welfare (Social Services)</unit><unit label="subtitle" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="V">Administrative Child Support</unit><unit label="chapter" level="3" order_by="1" identifier="19">Child Support Enforcement</unit><unit label="article" level="4" order_by="1" identifier="3">Paternity</unit></structure><text>
						<section><p>The <span class="dictionary">Department</span> may establish the parent and <span class="dictionary">child</span> relationship between a <span class="dictionary">child</span> and a man upon request, verified by <span class="dictionary">oath</span> or affirmation, filed by a <span class="dictionary">child</span>, a parent, a person claiming parentage, a person standing in loco parentis to the <span class="dictionary">child</span> or having legal <span class="dictionary">custody</span> of the <span class="dictionary">child</span>, or a representative of the <span class="dictionary">Department</span> or the <span class="dictionary">Department</span> of Juvenile Justice. The request may be filed at any time before the <span class="dictionary">child</span> attains the age of eighteen years.
		Pursuant to subsection F of &#xA7;&#xA0;<a class="law" title="Authority to issue certain orders; civil penalty" href="/63.2-1903/">63.2-1903</a>, the <span class="dictionary">Department</span> may <span class="dictionary">summons</span> a parent or putative parent to appear in the office of the Division of <span class="dictionary">Child</span> Support Enforcement to provide such information as may be necessary to the proceeding.
		Paternity may be established by a written statement of the father and mother made under <span class="dictionary">oath</span> acknowledging paternity or scientifically reliable genetic tests, including blood tests, which <span class="dictionary">affirm</span> at least a ninety-eight percent probability of paternity. The <span class="dictionary">Department</span> may <span class="dictionary">order</span> genetic testing and shall pay the costs of such tests, subject to recoupment from the father, if paternity is established. Where an original test is contested and additional testing is requested, the <span class="dictionary">Department</span> may require advance payment by the contestant.
		Before a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity is accepted by the <span class="dictionary">Department</span> as the basis for establishing paternity, the <span class="dictionary">Department</span> shall provide to both the mother and the putative father a written and oral description of the rights and responsibilities of acknowledging paternity and the consequences that arise from a signed acknowledgment, including the right to rescind the acknowledgment within the earlier of (i) sixty days from the date of signing or (ii) the date of entry of an <span class="dictionary">order</span> in an administrative or judicial proceeding relating to the <span class="dictionary">child</span> in which the signatory is a <span class="dictionary">party</span>.
		A genetic test result affirming at least a ninety-eight percent probability of paternity shall have the same legal effect as a <span class="dictionary">judgment</span> entered pursuant to &#xA7;&#xA0;<a class="law" title="Judgment or order; costs; birth record" href="/20-49.8/">20-49.8</a>. When sixty days have elapsed from its signing, a voluntary statement acknowledging paternity shall have the same legal effect as a <span class="dictionary">judgment</span> entered pursuant to &#xA7;&#xA0;<a class="law" title="Judgment or order; costs; birth record" href="/20-49.8/">20-49.8</a> and shall be binding and conclusive unless, in a subsequent judicial proceeding, the person challenging the statement establishes that the statement resulted from <span class="dictionary">fraud</span>, duress or a <span class="dictionary">material</span> <span class="dictionary">mistake of fact</span>. In any subsequent proceeding in which a statement acknowledging paternity is subject to challenge, the legal responsibilities of any person signing it shall not be suspended during the pendency of the proceeding, except for good cause shown.
		The <span class="dictionary">order</span> of the <span class="dictionary">Department</span> in proceedings pursuant to this section shall be served upon the putative father in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 8 (&#xA7;&#xA0;<a class="law" title="Definition of certain terms used in this chapter; process, return, statutory agent" href="/8.01-285/">8.01-285</a> et seq.) or Chapter 9 (&#xA7;&#xA0;<a class="law" title="Person defined" href="/8.01-328/">8.01-328</a> et seq.) of Title 8.01. The <span class="dictionary">Department</span> shall file a copy of its <span class="dictionary">order</span> determining paternity, including the information required by subsection D of &#xA7;&#xA0;<a class="law" title="Judgment or order; costs; birth record" href="/20-49.8/">20-49.8</a>, with the State Registrar of Vital Records within thirty days after the acknowledgment becomes binding and conclusive or the <span class="dictionary">order</span> otherwise becomes final. No judicial or administrative proceeding shall be required to ratify an unchallenged acknowledgment of paternity nor shall the <span class="dictionary">Department</span> or the <span class="dictionary">courts</span> have any <span class="dictionary">jurisdiction</span> over proceedings to ratify an unchallenged acknowledgment.</p></section></text><history>1997, cc. 792, 896, &#xA7; 63.1-250.1:2; 2002, c. 747; 2023, cc. 570, 571.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
