Opinion ID: 1927083
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Heading: presumption of paternity

Text: It has long been the law in Pennsylvania that a child born to a married woman is presumed to be a child of the marriage. Freedman v. McCandless, 539 Pa. 584, 654 A.2d 529 (1995). See also, 23 Pa.C.S.A. § 5102(b). This presumption arose (a) to protect marital integrity and (b) to prevent a child from being labeled a bastard child, a classification that carried both a social and a legal stigma. [3] Modern laws, however, have erased the legal stigma of children born out of wedlock, hence depriving the presumption of one of its original purposes. 23 Pa.C.S.A. § 5102. [4] The goal of protecting marital integrity is also futile in a society where legal marital status does not always translate into a loving, intimate, monogamous relationship. [5] The presumption that a child born to a married woman is a child of the marriage is dubious at best and in many cases, such as here, is absurd. We are living a fable, both morally and legally, if we think that a family is typified by Father Knows Best, where parents and children love and respect each other and where husband and wife are faithful to each other and adultery is merely a figment of one's imagination. [6] Thus, the presumption that a child born during coverture is a child of the marriage has lost its place in modern society, especially considering the scientific testing available both to prove and to disprove paternity. The Majority takes the first step today in updating this ancient concept to conform with modern-day realities. Accordingly, I concur with the Majority's holding that the presumption of paternity does not apply where its purpose is not served. [7] However, the time has come to take the next logical step in the evolution of paternity law and expand the means of rebutting the presumption. Knowledge of biological parentage is of paramount importance for a variety of reasons, including: discovery of genetic medical conditions, especially those conditions that medical science can prevent or successfully treat when discovered at an early stage; satisfaction of a child's innate desire to know his or her biological parents, as we often observe with adopted children; placement of moral and economic responsibility; and preservation of the rights of biological parents. Because of the significance of this determination, a party should not be unnecessarily restricted in his or her attempt to establish paternity. Therefore, I disagree with the Majority's statement that the presumption, when it does apply, may only be overcome with proof of the husband's non-access to the mother, [8] or his inability to procreate. Technology has advanced to a level where blood tests can exclude a man as the father with a 98% degree of reliability. [9] Therefore, when the presumption does apply, blood tests should also be available to parties to rebut the presumption of paternity. The Uniform Act on Blood Tests to Determine Paternity (the Act) expressly permits the use of blood tests in any case where paternity is a relevant issue. 23 Pa.C.S. § 5104. The Legislature adopted the Act because reliable scientific evidence excluding a man as the father of a child is imperative in any suit where paternity is an issue, particularly where the child was born during wedlock. Tyler v. King, 344 Pa.Super. 78, 86, 496 A.2d 16, 20 (1985). Section 5104(c) of the Act confers upon the courts the authority to compel interested parties to submit to blood testing as follows: § 5104. Blood tests to determine paternity (c) Authority for test.  In any matter subject to this section in which paternity, parentage or identity of a child is a relevant fact, the court, upon its own initiative or upon suggestion made by or on behalf of any person whose blood is involved, may or, upon motion of any party to the action made at a time so as not to delay the proceedings unduly, shall order the mother, child and alleged father to submit to blood tests. If any party refuses to submit to the tests, the court may resolve the question of paternity, parentage or identity of a child against the party or enforce its order if the rights of others and the interests of justice so require. The effect of the test results on the presumption is found in subsection (g), which provides: (g) Effect on presumption of legitimacy.  The presumption of legitimacy of a child born during wedlock is overcome if the court finds that the conclusions of all the experts as disclosed by the evidence based upon the tests show that the husband is not the father of the child. 23 Pa.C.S. § 5104. The rules of statutory construction, 1 Pa.C.S. § 1501 et seq., dictate that we should give words and phrases in a statute their plain meaning unless they are terms of art. 1 Pa.C.S.A. § 1903. Section 5104(g) clearly and expressly provides that the presumption of paternity is overcome if the tests show that the husband is not the father of the child. [10] Yet, Pennsylvania courts have strenuously avoided employing the statute to compel blood tests absent a showing first that the presumption is overcome with evidence of the husband's non-access to the mother during the period of conception or his sterility or impotency. For instance, the Superior Court has held that where a husband attempts to deny paternity of a child born during wedlock, he may not compel blood testing of himself, the mother and the child without first overcoming the presumption of paternity with common law evidence. McCue v. McCue, 413 Pa.Super. 71, 604 A.2d 738, allocatur denied, 531 Pa. 655, 613 A.2d 560 (1992). Similarly, in Scott v. Mershon, 394 Pa.Super. 411, 576 A.2d 67 (1990), the Superior Court prohibited a mother from compelling blood tests of a third party because she had not first rebutted the presumption of paternity with evidence of her husband's non-access or inability to procreate. See also Paulshock v. Bonomo, 443 Pa.Super. 409, 661 A.2d 1386 (1995), allocatur denied, 544 Pa. 669, 677 A.2d 840 (1996) (prohibiting the mother from utilizing blood tests that exclude the husband as the father to overcome the presumption of paternity, which also prevented her from presenting evidence of the putative father's probability of fatherhood). The courts' threshold requirement of common law proof to rebut the presumption is clearly erroneous pursuant to the Act, which explicitly provides that blood tests are an alternative method of rebutting the presumption. 23 Pa.C.S. § 5104(g). Furthermore, Section 5104(c) permits any party to request blood tests, which would include the mother, the child, the husband or a putative father. Accordingly, a third party who stands outside the marriage and claims paternity of a child born during wedlock is authorized to request blood tests of himself, the child, the mother and the husband to overcome the presumption. In John M. v. Paula T., 524 Pa. 306, 571 A.2d 1380 (1990), this Court, however, denied a third party the ability to compel the husband to submit to blood tests to disprove the husband's paternity. This decision was based on public policy, including the Commonwealth's interest in protecting intact marriages. We stated the following: It is true that the Act relaxes the presumption to some extent for it explicitly provides that the presumption is overcome if the court finds that the conclusions of all the experts as disclosed by the evidence based upon the tests show that the husband is not the father of the child. [23 Pa.C.S. § 5104(g)]. However, the Act does not relax the presumption to the extent that a putative father, a third party who stands outside the marital relationship and attempts to establish paternity over a child born to the marriage, may compel the presumptive father, the husband, to submit to blood tests on the strength of such evidence as has been presented herein. Id. at 316, 571 A.2d at 1384-85 (citations omitted). This interpretation is in direct conflict with the plain language of the Act. See 23 Pa.C.S. § 5104(c). Moreover, denying a putative father the opportunity to challenge the husband's paternity and establish his own biological parentage, effectively terminates his parental rights without due course of law. Accord, In re J.W.T., 872 S.W.2d 189 (Tex.1994). [11] Because I find that a parent or child's interests in determining paternity outweigh the Commonwealth's unavailing interest in preserving intact marriages, I would hold that, in accordance with the Act, any party to an action in which paternity is a relevant fact may request the court to order all parties to submit to blood tests. These results would then serve to rebut the presumption, irrespective of common law evidence. 23 Pa.C.S. § 5104(c). We would be both naive and remiss to perpetuate the strength of this presumption and ignore the results of reliable scientific tests; especially where, as here, the putative father has admitted to having engaged in sexual conduct with the mother during the period of conception, has accepted the child as his own, and has supported the child for the first two years of her life. Pennsylvania is fast becoming one of only a minority of states that does not accept the results of blood tests that disprove the husband's paternity to rebut the presumption. Approximately two-thirds of the states currently have statutes permitting blood tests to be considered in the determination of paternity. [12] HOMER H. CLARK, JR., 1 THE LAW OF DOMESTIC RELATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES 340 (2d ed.1987). The United States Supreme Court has accepted the evidentiary value of blood grouping tests to disprove paternity as follows: As far as the accuracy, reliability, dependability  even infallibility  of the test are concerned, there is no longer any controversy. The result of the test is universally accepted by distinguished scientific and medical authority. There is, in fact, no living authority of repute, medical or legal, who may be cited adversely. . . . [T]here is now . . . practically universal and unanimous judicial willingness to give decisive and controlling evidentiary weight to a blood test exclusion of paternity. S. Schatkin, Disputed Paternity Proceedings § 9.13 (1975). Little v. Streater, 452 U.S. 1, 7, 101 S.Ct. 2202, 2206, 68 L.Ed.2d 627 (1981). We should join the majority of states and accept these reliable scientific tests to rebut the presumption that a child born to a married woman is her husband's child. [13] For example, in S.E.B. v. J.H.B., 605 So.2d 1230 (Ala.Civ. App.1992), the Alabama Supreme Court granted a mother's request to compel her husband and the putative father to submit to blood testing to determine the paternity of a child born during wedlock. In Alabama, the presumption may be overcome only by clear and convincing evidence that tends to show that it is naturally, physically, or scientifically impossible for the husband to be the father. Id. at 1232. Similarly, in Hawaii, a presumptive father may request blood tests to disprove his paternity. Doe v. Roe, 9 Haw.App. 623, 859 P.2d 922 (1993). New Hampshire employs a more relaxed presumption of paternity, which may be rebutted under [] common law by satisfactory proof that the husband is not the father, including blood tests, testimony by experts or others, medical or scientific evidence, statistical probability evidence, physical resemblance between the child and the putative father, or acquiescence by the mother and her husband. Bodwell v. Brooks, 141 N.H. 508, 686 A.2d 1179 (1996). In Illinois, once blood tests exclude a husband as the father, the court may presume that an alleged father is the biological parent if (1) the blood tests of the alleged father do not exclude him as the father and (2) there is a probability of at least 500 to 1 that he is the father. People ex rel. Stockwill v. Keller, 251 Ill.App.3d 796, 191 Ill.Dec. 226, 623 N.E.2d 816 (1993). Utah requires blood tests in any case where paternity is an issue, and the results may conclusively rebut the presumption of paternity. In re Schoolcraft, 799 P.2d 710 (Utah 1990). But see Colorado  M.R.D. v. F.M., 805 P.2d 1200 (Colo.Ct.App. 1991) (party to the marriage not permitted to challenge husband's paternity beyond the five-year statute of limitations even where a competing presumption arose from blood tests that resulted in a 99.86% probability that the alleged father was the biological parent of the child); and Iowa  Dye v. Geiger, 554 N.W.2d 538 (Iowa 1996) (prohibiting an ex-husband from overcoming his presumptive paternity with genetic tests positively establishing another man's paternity when such rebuttal is not in the child's best interest). California has a more liberal approach and permits the presumed father, the husband, or the child to rebut the presumption with blood test evidence. Cal. Fam.Code § 7541. Interestingly, a man may be a presumed father if he satisfies at least one of the following criteria: he and the mother are married at the time of the child's birth; the child is born within 300 days of the termination of the marriage; the couple has attempted to marry before or after the child's birth; or the man receives the child into his home and openly holds out the child as his own. Cal. Fam.Code § 7611. Pennsylvania's approach to establishing paternity is clearly outdated. The unwavering interests in definitively determining biological parentage mandate that we permit the use of blood tests to rebut the limited presumption.