Court Opinion

ID: 9637797
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 15:21:09.399591+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:00.654640
License: Public Domain

FORD ELLIOTT, Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the result reached by the majority. However, I would affirm on the basis of the rationale expressed in Faust v. Faggart, supra and John M. v. Paula T., supra. Similar to John M., the facts in the instant case represent an irrebuttable presumption of paternity. The child was born into an intact family and the presumed father has at all times held himself out as the father of the child. As noted in Faust, paternity is no longer a relevant fact in any proceeding regardless of whether it is instituted by a purported father, a presumed father or a natural mother. Therefore, consistent with the rationale in Faust and John M., I find this case to be factually distinguishable from Nixon, supra, Parenti, supra, and Jones, supra, where only a rebuttable presumption was established. In Nixon, a child was conceived after the married parties had separated and been living in different states for years. In Parenti, a child was conceived one month after the married parties had separated and was born six months after their divorce was granted. In Jones, a child was born during the marriage between husband and wife, however, sexual relations had ceased between the parties. Shortly after the birth of the child, the husband and wife separated and the parties were subsequently divorced. I consider that in these cases, blood test results were properly admitted as would have been any evidence of non-access or impotency to rebut the presumption of paternity which was premised solely on the existence of a marriage in name only.