Paternity: conflicting presumptions.

Under existing law, with certain exceptions, a man is conclusively presumed to be the father of a child if he was married to and cohabiting with the child's mother. Existing law also provides that if a man signs a voluntary declaration of paternity, it has the force and effect of a judgment of paternity, subject to certain exceptions. Existing law further provides that a man is rebuttably presumed to be the father if he was married to, or attempted to marry, the mother before or after the birth of the child, or he receives the child as his own and openly holds the child out as his own. Under existing law, the voluntary declaration of paternity may be set aside by the court if genetic evidence establishes the man is not the father of the child, while the latter presumptions are rebutted by a judgment establishing paternity by another man. Existing law provides that if 2 or more presumptions conflict with each other, the presumption which on the facts is founded on the weightier considerations of policy and logic controls. This bill would provide that a voluntary declaration of paternity is invalid if, at the time the declaration was signed, the child already had a presumed parent, as specified, or if the man signing the declaration is a sperm donor. The bill would authorize a person who is rebuttably presumed to be the child's parent under the above-described provisions to bring a motion to set aside a voluntary declaration of paternity, and would require the court to consider specified factors, including the nature, duration, and quality of the petitioning party's relationship with the child in deciding whether to set aside the voluntary declaration of paternity. The bill would include these proceedings among the exceptions to the provision that a voluntary declaration of paternity has the force and effect of a judgment of paternity. The bill would provide that, in the event of a conflict between a rebuttable presumption of paternity and the voluntary declaration of paternity, the weightier considerations of policy and logic control. The bill would make other conforming changes. Under existing law, the donor of semen provided to a licensed physician and surgeon or to a licensed sperm bank for use in artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization of a woman other than the donor's wife is treated as if he were not the natural father of a child thereby conceived. This bill would enable a sperm donor to be treated as a natural father if it is agreed to in a writing signed by the donor and the woman prior to the conception of the child.