Court Opinion

ID: 9756672
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 21:46:43.832905+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:27.697074
License: Public Domain

Leben, J.,
concurring: I agree with the majority that a presumption of paternity based on genetic testing must be established prior to the initiation of a paternity action in order for K.S.A. 38-1114(a)(5) to apply. The question is important only in determining when the statute of Mmitations bars a paternity claim like the one Jarrod Roy tries to pursue here.
For a presumed father, a paternity claim may be brought at any time; for all others, the action must be brought within 3 years of the child reaching the age of majority, which is 18. See K.S.A. 38-1115(a). If a person claiming paternity could obtain genetic testing after filing the paternity action, then there would be no statute of limitations at afl — a person could wait, as Jarrod Roy did, until he was in his 40’s to bring the action even though the father was not otherwise a presumptive father under the statute. Obviously, such an interpretation of these statutes would make no sense: the legislature took the time and effort to establish a 3-year time limit in K.S.A. 38-1115(a)(2).
Our court has already decided this issue in a well-reasoned, published opinion in In re Estate of Foley, 22 Kan. App. 2d 959, 925 P.2d 449, rev. denied 261 Kan. 1085 (1996). I would affirm the *1165district court’s interpretation of K.S.A. 38-1114(a)('5) and K.S.A. 38-1115(a)(2) based on Foley and the reasoning set out in drat opinion.