81-5-204. Presumption of parentage.

368 words·~2 min read·/ut/title-81/chapter-5/81-5-204

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

Effective 5/6/2026

(1)A man is presumed to be the father of a child if:

(a)the man and the birth mother of the child are married to each other and the child is born during the marriage;

(b)the man and the birth mother of the child were married to each other and the child is born within 300 days after the marriage is terminated by death, annulment, declaration of invalidity, or divorce, or after a decree of separation;

(c)before the birth of the child, the man and the birth 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 days after the marriage's termination by death, annulment, declaration of invalidity, or divorce or after a decree of separation; or

(d)after the birth of the child, the man and the birth mother of the child married each other in apparent compliance with law, whether the marriage is, or could be declared, invalid, the man voluntarily asserted the man's parentage of the child, and there is no other presumptive father of the child, and:

(i)the assertion is in a record filed with the Office of Vital Records and Statistics;

(ii)the man agreed to be and is named as the child's father on the child's birth certificate; or

(iii)the man promised in a record to support the child as his own.

(2)A man is not presumed to be the father of a child not named in a divorce decree if:

(a)the child was born at the time of entry of the divorce decree; and

(b)there are children named in the divorce decree and the children have a mother-child relationship described in Section 81-5-201 with the same mother as the child.

(3)A presumption of parentage established under this section may only be rebutted in accordance with Section 81-5-607 .

(4)If a child has an adjudicated father, the results of genetic testing are inadmissable to challenge parentage except as described in Section 81-5-607 .

Amended by Chapter 155 , 2026 General Session