Whether a state has adopted the Uniform Parentage Act answers the question posed in Is Bio-Dad a Legal Stranger to Child Born During a Marriage?, according to this comment posted by Jeanne Hannah of Updates In Michigan Family Law:
Clearly, this case boils down to the fact that the biological father, under Kentucky law, does not have standing to sue for paternity under Kentucky law.
Whether a state has adopted the Uniform Parentage Act answers the question posed in Is Bio-Dad a Legal Stranger to Child Born During a Marriage?, according to this comment posted by Jeanne Hannah of Updates In Michigan Family Law:
Clearly, this case boils down to the fact that the biological father, under Kentucky law, does not have standing to sue for paternity under Kentucky law. Thus he is, in fact, a “legal stranger to the child.” Kentucky’s Paternity Act provides as follows:
KRS 406.011 Obligations of father — Presumption of paternity. * * * A child born during lawful wedlock, or within ten (10) months thereafter, is presumed to be the child of the husband and wife. However, a child born out of wedlock includes a child born to a married woman by a man other than her husband where evidence shows that the marital relationship between the husband and wife ceased ten (10) months prior to the birth of the child.
Under Michigan law and the law of States that like Michigan and Kentucky have not yet adopted the Uniform Parentage Act, this case would not have been decided differently.
See for further details my article Barnes v Jeudevine: How to Deprive a Child of a Father
In Barnes, the child was born 4 months after the entry of a judgment of divorce stating that there were no children of the marriage and that none were expect. The mother and the biological father signed an affidavit of parentage in which they swore under oath that the mother was unmarried from conception to birth. When the relationship soured, the mother enlisted the aid of her ex-husband and she successfully fought the establishment of parentage by the biological father. The court ruled that the biological father had no standing to pursue establishment of paternity because the mother was married during conception. The false affidavit of parentage was not given any weight to favor the biological father.
Even after Barnes, Michigan courts were called upon to address the lack of standing issue. See my blog article Parentage Issues: Here We Go Again!
Until States enact the Uniform Parentage Act which would give a biological father the same “presumed father” status as that enjoyed by a man married to the mother from conception until birth, biological fathers are going to get short shrift in the courts.
