Opinion ID: 1358916
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Putative Father's Claim

Text: (1a) Does the application of the presumption of section 621 violate Donald R.'s due process rights? (2) We have held that the issue of whether section 621 adequately protects a putative father's interests must be resolved by weighing the competing private and state interests. ( In re Lisa R. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 636, 648 [119 Cal. Rptr. 475, 532 P.2d 123, 90 A.L.R.3d 1017], cert. den. (1975) 421 U.S. 1014 [44 L.Ed.2d 682, 95 S.Ct. 2421], rehg. den. (1975) 423 U.S. 885 [46 L.Ed.2d 116, 96 S.Ct. 159].) In Board of Regents v. Roth (1972) 408 U.S. 564, 570 [33 L.Ed.2d 548, 570, 92 S.Ct. 2701], the high court explained that a weighing process has long been a part of any determination of the form of hearing required in particular situations.... (Italics in original.) The United States Supreme Court has scrutinized, under the due process clause, state laws limiting a natural father's relationship with his illegitimate offspring in three seminal cases, [3] Stanley v. Illinois (1971) 405 U.S. 645 [31 L.Ed.2d 551, 92 S.Ct. 1208], Quilloin v. Walcott (1978) 434 U.S. 246 [54 L.Ed.2d 511, 98 S.Ct. 549], rehg. den. (1978) 435 U.S. 918 [55 L.Ed.2d 511, 98 S.Ct. 1477], and most recently in Lehr v. Robertson (1983) 463 U.S. 248 [77 L.Ed.2d 614, 103 S.Ct. 2985]. In Stanley, an unwed father lost custody of his three children upon the death of the children's unwed mother. The father, Stanley, had lived with the children and their mother since their birth and they were summarily taken and placed with court-appointed guardians without any prior hearing. This deprivation was found to violate the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Justice Powell, writing for the court, concluded that Illinois, insists on presuming rather than proving Stanley's unfitness solely because it is more convenient to presume than to prove. Under the Due Process Clause that advantage is insufficient to justify refusing a father a hearing when the issue at stake is the dismemberment of his family. (405 U.S., at p. 658 [31 L.Ed.2d at p. 562].) Thus, Illinois could not automatically destroy the Stanley family and uproot the children without first providing the father with the opportunity to be heard on the issue of parental fitness. The limits on a putative father's due process rights were addressed in Quilloin v. Walcott, supra, 434 U.S. 246, where the Supreme Court held that a Georgia statute which denied an unwed father the right to veto an adoption of his illegitimate child did not violate the due process clause. The father in that case only sought to claim paternity after the mother and her new husband had initiated adoption proceedings. The court held that the denial of the father's legitimation petition  found by the trial court to be in the child's best interest  did not violate the due process clause. Finally, the court most recently addressed this issue in Lehr v. Robertson, supra, 463 U.S. 248. Lehr, the putative father, sought to invalidate an adoption order granted in favor of the biological mother and her husband. The child was already two years old at the time and the father never had any significant custodial, personal, or financial relationship with [the child], and he did not seek to establish a legal tie until she was two years old. ( Id., at p. 262 [77 L.Ed.2d at p. 627], fn. omitted.) This court has examined the conclusive presumption of paternity in Lisa R., supra, 13 Cal.3d 636, where a putative father sought to continue the parent-child relationship he had established with his daughter. In Lisa R., although the minor child was presumed to be legitimate, both of her parents were deceased and the child was being adjudicated a dependent of the juvenile court. With adoption proceedings by foster parents pending, Lisa's putative father sought to prove his paternity and obtain visitation rights. Following the United States Supreme Court's decision in Stanley v. Illinois, supra, 405 U.S. 645, we held that the Evidence Code's preclusion of proof of paternity offended the constitutional guarantee of due process of law. (1b) The difference between the state-threatened dissolution and termination of a developed parent-child relationship in Stanley and Lisa R. and the denial of a legal determination of paternity in the case at bench is clear and significant. As we recently noted, In both Stanley and Lisa R., the putative fathers were seeking to establish their legal relationship with children who otherwise had no parents and were wards of the state. ( Estate of Cornelious (1984) 35 Cal.3d 461, 466 [198 Cal. Rptr. 543, 674 P.2d 245], app. dism. (1984) 466 U.S. 967 [80 L.Ed.2d 812, 104 S.Ct. 2337].) This is not a case where the state has attempted to intervene or to prevent the establishment of a relationship between putative father and child. [4] Rather, Donald R. seeks a determination that he is Michelle's legal father, notwithstanding the established and continuing emotional and financial father-daughter relationship between Michelle and Ronald. [5] Accordingly, we conclude that Donald's abstract interest in establishing paternity is not as weighty as the interests of the fathers in Stanley and Lisa R. We turn to the interests of the state. Numerous policy considerations have been cited in favor of a conclusive presumption of paternity, including certain social policies upholding the integrity of the family ( Kusior v. Silver (1960) 54 Cal.2d 603, 619 [7 Cal. Rptr. 129, 354 P.2d 657]), and protecting the child's welfare ( In re Lisa R., supra, 13 Cal.3d at pp. 649-650). Thus, section 621 does not purport to factually determine the biological paternity of a child. ( Kusior v. Silver, supra, 54 Cal.2d at p. 619.) We note that, as stated by the United States Supreme Court, [t]he actions of judges neither create nor sever genetic bonds. ( Lehr v. Robertson, supra, 463 U.S. at p. 261 [77 L.Ed.2d at p. 626].) The interests noted above apply to the facts of the case at bench. Here, Donald R.'s private interest in establishing a biological relationship in a court of law is overridden by the substantial state interests in familial stability and the welfare of the child. Accordingly, the application of section 621 to the instant case comported with the requirement of due process of law.