Court Opinion

ID: 9700709
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 21:46:25.276074+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:13.951534
License: Public Domain

*322NIX, Chief Justice,
concurring.
I join in the opinion and result of the majority. I write separately to emphasize that this Court has not swayed from the presumption that a child born to a married couple is presumed to be a “child of the marriage.”
Irrespective of the legal title given this presumption (whether it be “presumption of legitimacy” or the presumption that the child born is the “child of the marriage”), it should remain clear that a child born to a married couple will be presumed to be the issue of the husband. That presumption can be overcome only by proof of facts establishing non-access or impotency. Cairgle v. American Radiator and Standard Sanitary Corp., 366 Pa. 249, 77 A.2d 439 (1951). It continues to be one of the strongest presumptions within our law. Commonwealth ex rel. Leider v. Leider, 434 Pa. 293, 254 A.2d 306 (1969); Cairgle, supra; Commonwealth, ex rel. O’Brien v. O’Brien, 390 Pa. 551, 136 A.2d 451 (1958).
In this case a third party disputes the paternity of the husband and asks the court to compel the presumed father to submit to a blood test in order to determine who is more likely the father. The lower court properly denied the request, relying upon the “presumption of legitimacy”. However, the Superior Court found that the Uniform Act on Blood Tests to Determine Paternity (“the Act”), 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 6131-37, relaxed the presumption, therefore enabling the alleged putative father to establish “good cause” to compel a blood test of the husband under Pa.R.Civ.P. 4010(a).
The Superior Court erred for the presumption is absolute. The Act does not relax the presumption that a child born to a marriage is a “child of the marriage”; it merely provides a mechanism through which an alleged father can accumulate evidence of paternity. This- Act cannot be used by a third party, seeking to rebut the presumption, to compel a presumed father to submit to a blood test. Whatever interests the putative father may claim, they pale in comparison to the overriding interests of the presumed father, *323the marital institution and the interests of this Commonwealth in the family unit. These interests are the cornerstone of the age-old presumption and remain protected by the Commonwealth today.
Thus a third party who stands outside the marital relationship should not be allowed, for any purpose, to challenge the husband’s claim of parentage. I believe the presumption in this situation is irrebuttable and conclusive, the statutory provision cited in the majority opinion notwithstanding. The thrust of the presumption is to establish Michael T. as the legally recognized father of the child in question, without regard to the legitimacy of its biological premise.1
FLAHERTY, McDERMOTT, ZAPPALA and PAPADAKOS, JJ., join in this concurring opinion.

. It would also follow that appellee is not entitled to compel either the mother or the child to undergo testing.