                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

ADMINISTRATIVE ESTABLISHMENT OF PATERNITY (§ 63.2-1913)

The Department may establish the parent and child relationship between a child
and a man upon request, verified by oath or affirmation, filed by a child, a
parent, a person claiming parentage, a person standing in loco parentis to the
child or having legal custody of the child, or a representative of the
Department or the Department of Juvenile Justice. The request may be filed at
any time before the child attains the age of eighteen years.
		Pursuant to subsection F of § 63.2-1903, the Department may summons a parent
or putative parent to appear in the office of the Division of Child 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 oath acknowledging paternity or scientifically reliable genetic
tests, including blood tests, which affirm at least a ninety-eight percent
probability of paternity. The Department may order 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 Department may require advance payment by the contestant.
		Before a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity is accepted by the Department
as the basis for establishing paternity, the Department 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 order in an administrative or judicial proceeding relating to the
child in which the signatory is a party.
		A genetic test result affirming at least a ninety-eight percent probability of
paternity shall have the same legal effect as a judgment entered pursuant to §
20-49.8. When sixty days have elapsed from its signing, a voluntary statement
acknowledging paternity shall have the same legal effect as a judgment entered
pursuant to § 20-49.8 and shall be binding and conclusive unless, in a
subsequent judicial proceeding, the person challenging the statement establishes
that the statement resulted from fraud, duress or a material mistake of fact. 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 order of the Department in proceedings pursuant to this section shall be
served upon the putative father in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 8
(§ 8.01-285 et seq.) or Chapter 9 (§ 8.01-328 et seq.) of Title 8.01. The
Department shall file a copy of its order determining paternity, including the
information required by subsection D of § 20-49.8, with the State Registrar of
Vital Records within thirty days after the acknowledgment becomes binding and
conclusive or the order otherwise becomes final. No judicial or administrative
proceeding shall be required to ratify an unchallenged acknowledgment of
paternity nor shall the Department or the courts have any jurisdiction over
proceedings to ratify an unchallenged acknowledgment.

HISTORY: 1997, cc. 792, 896, § 63.1-250.1:2; 2002, c. 747; 2023, cc. 570, 571.