Opinion ID: 2208828
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Delaware Parentage Act

Text: When the Family Court held that res judicata barred the Mother's 1987 paternity petition because of the judgment in the 1978 proceeding filed by DCSE, it dismissed her petition without prejudice to the Child's rights under 13 Del.C. Ch. 8. Thereafter, DCSE filed its current paternity petition on behalf of the Child. The Family Court denied Bradley's motion to dismiss the Child's petition, holding that it was authorized by 13 Del.C. Ch. 8, the Uniform Parentage Act, as adopted in Delaware (Delaware Parentage Act). DCSE acknowledges that the 1978 paternity proceeding in this matter was concluded prior to the enactment of the Delaware Parentage Act. DCSE also acknowledges that the Delaware Parentage Act did not create a new cause of action for parties who had previously litigated paternity. However, DCSE contends that the Family Court properly decided the question in the case sub judice, i.e., not whether a party to an earlier hearing can relitigate paternity, but whether the Child, who was not a party to the prior proceeding, can file a subsequent action to establish paternity pursuant to Delaware's version of the Uniform Parentage Act. Bradley does not disagree with DCSE's formulation of the question. Instead, Bradley argues that the Delaware General Assembly has answered the question in the negative. The Family Court recognized that the Delaware Parentage Act is significantly different from the Uniform Parentage Act promulgated by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. In particular, the Family Court noted that 13 Del.C. § 805(a) did not include the statute of limitations for commencing paternity proceedings, which had been suggested in the Uniform Parentage Act. 13 Del.C. § 805(a) provides: Any interested party, including the child or his guardian; the mother or her representative, if deceased; an appropriate public agency; or a man alleged or alleging himself to be the father, or his guardian if a minor or his representative, if deceased; may bring an action at any time for the purpose of determining the existence or nonexistence of the father-and-child relationship with respect to any child. (emphasis added). The Family Court relied upon this section in concluding that the Child's present paternity petition was authorized by the Delaware Parentage Act. We have carefully compared all of the provisions of the Delaware Parentage Act with their counterparts in the Uniform Parentage Act. We find that the Family Court correctly concluded that the Delaware Parentage Act has rejected the time limitations suggested by the Uniform Parentage Act for commencing a paternity proceeding. However, to the extent that the Family Court based its decision exclusively upon 13 Del.C. § 805(a), its analysis of the Delaware Parentage Act was incomplete. An examination of the entire Delaware Parentage Act reflects an unambiguous intention by the Delaware General Assembly not to have multiple paternity proceedings, whether or not the child is a party to the initial proceeding. The Uniform Parentage Act provides that the child must be joined as a party in a paternity proceeding and prohibits the father or mother from acting as the child's guardian ad litem. The child shall be made a party to the action. If he is a minor he shall be represented by his general guardian or a guardian ad litem appointed by the court. The child's mother or father may not represent the child as guardian or otherwise. UPA § 9 (emphasis added). However, the corresponding provision which was enacted in Delaware makes the joinder of the child, as a party in a paternity proceeding, discretionary and does not include the recommended prohibitions against the father or mother acting as the child's guardian. 13 Del.C. § 808, in part, provides: The child may be made a party to an action under this chapter. The Court, upon proper application or on its own motion, may appoint a guardian ad litem for the best interest of the child. (emphasis added). Notwithstanding the modification in the Delaware statutory scheme to make the Child's joinder as a party discretionary, the Delaware Parentage Act does include the language recommended in the Uniform Parentage Act which provides that: [a] judgment and order of the [Family] Court determining the existence or nonexistence of the parent-and-child relationship is determinative for all purposes. 13 Del.C. § 812(a) (emphasis added). Moreover, Delaware's Parentage Act differs significantly from the Uniform Parentage Act in that it contains a provision which does not appear in the Uniform Parentage Act. The Delaware Parentage Act states: [A] written settlement agreement between or among the mother, the putative father and guardian ad litem for the child if one is appointed, and approved by the Court shall be final, binding and conclusive on all parties including the child, and shall operate as a final adjudication on the merits as to the issue of paternity in any subsequent action for determination of paternity, child support, custody, visitation or any other civil or criminal action in which the paternity of the child by the putative father is an element of the claim for relief. 13 Del.C. § 809(c). The General Assembly was not required, as a matter of due process or equal protection, to afford a child an independent opportunity to relitigate the issue of paternity. Michael H. v. Gerald D., 491 U.S. 110, 109 S.Ct. 2333, 105 L.Ed.2d 91 (1989). See also, Rivera v. Minnich, 107 S.Ct. at 3006; Petitioner F. v. Respondent R., Del. Supr., 430 A.2d 1075 (1981). Delaware's modifications to the Uniform Parentage Act evidence a conscientious determination by the General Assembly to bind a child by a finding of paternity or nonpaternity in a judicial proceeding, whether or not the Child was joined as a party in the initial action. The Family Court's conclusion that the Delaware Uniform Parentage Act permitted the Child to relitigate the issue of Bradley's paternity was erroneous, as a matter of law.