COMMITED INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS Flashcards
Define and be able to identify the factors relevant to determining whether something is a committed intimate relationship (CIR
Top 5
1) the duration of your relationship;
2) the purpose of your relationship;
3) whether you lived together continuously;
4) whether your relationship was stable and committed;
5) whether you both pooled resources and services for joint goals and projects (example: you had joint debts and accounts);
6) whether you both intended to function as a married couple, yet decided not to marry, (example: did you plan to have a family, name each other in your wills, or plan to retire together);
7) whether you both knew that you weren’t in a legal marriage;
8) whether one of you was married to someone else during your relationship;
9) whether your relationship was monogamous and exclusive; and/or
10) whether either one of you moved or made career choices based upon your relationship.
Understand parenting plans and child support for unmarried couples
Acknowledgment (affidavit):
Easiest method
The federal government pushes for hospitals to hand out an affidavit
Once signed, 60 day period to rescind – otherwise must show fraud, duress, or mistake
**Note: A minor has until he turns 19 to rescind (take back) his/her signature on a paternity affidavit.
A paternity affidavit or acknowledgment is not a court order. But if you file it with the Washington State Department of Health on or after July 1, 1997, it has the same legal effect as a court order establishing parentage.
A paternity affidavit or acknowledgment is legally binding even if one or more of the people who signed it is a minor (under age 18).
Washington State will recognize the validity of a paternity affidavit, acknowledgment, or denial filed in another state if that state’s own laws do.
What does a paternity affidavit or acknowledgment do?
It gives the person named as a child’s father;
all the legal rights and responsibilities of the child’s parent,
ncluding rights to request custody or visitation, and the responsibility to provide child support.
What cannot a paternity affidavit or acknowledgment do?
It cannot establish custody, visitation, or child support.
How do you Establish Child Support when you are not married to the father or mother?
To establish child support, a parent (or, if the children get public assistance, the State) must ask for a child support order through the Division of Child Support’s administrative process, or in court.
When not the Father in a Paternity Action what should be Filed?
*Can use an affidavit of denial for person not a father.
What is Adjudication
(court order):
Most courts rely on genetic testing
Must have a rebuttable presumption of paternity – if proven within probability then burden shifts to the man to disprove
Another way to establish parentage is by filing a legal case in court, asking the court to determine who the child’s parent is. In Washington, we call this type of case a parentage case.
What If there is no paternity affidavit or acknowledgment that establishes a child’s parentage
The court will decide a child’s parentage based on the evidence presented by the people involved in the court case (the “parties” to the case).
If the parties all agree on who the child’s parent is, the court may decide to establish parentage according to the parties’ agreement.
It is more common for the court to order the parent, child, and the person believed to be the other parent to take a genetic test to determine whether that person is the child’s biological parent.
If the parent is not available for testing, the law says the court may order genetic tests of that person’s parents or other close relatives.
If the court orders genetic tests and someone refuses to be tested, the court may hold them in contempt.
What is the Legal Presumption of Paternity:
Effective July 27, 2011, you are presumed to be a child’s parent if:
For the first two years of the child’s life, you lived in the same home as the child and openly held the child out as your own.
UCCJEA may apply in cases where personal jurisdiction applies over the respondent/children.
If the child lives in Washington, you must file your parentage or petition for a parenting plan case in the county where the child lives.
If the child does not live in Washington, file your parentage action in the county where the alleged parent lives or is found.
If the child does not live in Washington, you probably cannot file a petition for a parenting plan in Washington.
If you and the other parent did not sign a paternity affidavit or acknowledgment and no court has entered an order establishing parentage, will the birth certificate legally establish the parent-child relationship
No.
You can probably use the birth certificate for some purposes,
such as getting veteran’s benefits.
But you need to establish parentage to get a custody order or to get the right to inherit money or property or Social Security death benefits for your child if the other parent dies.
When a child is born during a marriage or domestic partnership, or within 300 days after marriage or domestic partnership ends (or the other parent dies),
Does the law presume both parties are the child’s parents?
Yes, We call the spouse/domestic partner the child’s presumed parent.
Does your spouse/domestic partner will have all legal rights and responsibilities for the child?
Yes, unless someone legally disproves the spouse/domestic partner’s parentage of the child.
What actions must you take in order to disprove a legal relationship with the child?
You ask the court to disprove the spouse/domestic partner’s legal relationship with the child by filing a:
Petition for Establishment of Parentage case.
Or you can have the spouse/domestic partner, the mother, and the child’s biological father sign a paternity affidavit or acknowledgment.
Under WA state Law, how long do you have to challenge paternity?
Under Washington law, you must start your court case (challenging paternity) no more than four years after the parentage acknowledgment you are challenging was filed with the Department of Health.
Once paternity is established, what are your next steps?
Once Paternity is established then:
a parenting plan or residential schedule can be put into place and a child support order established.
In Washington, the courts generally do not use the words custody and visitation when talking about how much time each parent spends with a child. They talk about the residential schedule and decision-making authority for the children.
