Paternity

If a dispute arises in family court proceedings as to the paternity of a child who is not a child adopted by the parties or born by artificial means, the court can order parentage testing of the parties to determine if the child is a child of the father: s 69W, FLA. In WA, for children born not of a marriage the equivalent provision in the Family Court Act 1997 (WA) is s 195. This order can be made on the court’s own initiative or on application in certain circumstances and can be made subject to terms and conditions: s 69W(2), FLA. In practice this order would be for a blood test or DNA testing: reg 21C of the Family Law Regulations 1984 (Cth). The court cannot order parentage testing where this is the only order sought. The order can only be made in the context of other related family court proceedings (eg, parenting or child support proceedings are the most common).

Once the court is satisfied as to parentage, the court can make a declaration that is conclusive evidence as to parentage. Specifically, s 69S, FLA provides that if any prescribed court in Australia has made a declaration as to parentage under s 69VA, FLA this declaration is conclusive for all the laws of the Commonwealth, including for the purpose of child support issues. The equivalent provision in the Family Court Act 1997 (WA) to s 69S, FLA is s 191. For obvious jurisdictional reasons, there is no equivalent provision to s 69VA, FLA under the WA legislation.

See Paternity.