SAPCR (Suits Affecting Parent Child Relationships)

Question 1

What is a SAPCR?

Answer 1

• Any suit that affects the rights and duties of parents and their children.
• For example:
  -Conservatorship, Tex. Fam. Code §153
  -Possession or Access, Tex. Fam. Code §153
  -Sibling Access, Tex. Fam. Code §153 Subchapter J (§153.551)
  -Grandparent Access, **Tex. Fam. Code §153 **Subchapter H (§153.431)
  -Child Support, Tex. Fam. Code §154
  -Determination of Parentage, Tex. Fam. Code §160
  -Terminations, Tex. Fam. Code §161
  -Adoptions, Tex. Fam. Code §162

Question 2

Uniform Parentage Act

Answer 2

• Governs issues involving creation of parent/child relationship. Seeks to provide uniform framework to establish paternity of minor children born to married and unmarried couples.
• Originally promulgated in 1973, amended in 2000 and 2017.
• Texas adopted UPA in 2001.

Question 3

Who is a Mother?

Answer 3

• UPA (and Texas) establish motherhood in one of four ways:
  1. By giving birth to the child, Tex. Fam. Code §160.201(a)(1)
  2. By adopting the child, Tex. Fam. Code §160.201(a)(3)
  3. By a court order adjudicating her a mother, Tex. Fam. Code §160.201(a)(2)
  4. By a court order adjudicating her a mother of a child born to another woman under a validated or enforceable gestational agreement. Tex. Fam. Code §160.753(a)

Question 4

Who is a Father?
Tex. Fam. Code §160.201(b)

Answer 4

• UPA (and Texas) establish fatherhood in one of seven ways:
  1. By being a Presumed father,
  2. By signing an Acknowledgment of Paternity,
  3. By adopting the child,
  4. By court order adjudicating him as a father,
  5. By consenting to assisted reproduction by his wife resulting in birth of a child,
  6. By providing sperm to a licensed physician and consenting to assisted reproduction by an unmarried woman resulting in birth of a child, or
  7. By court order adjudicating him a father of a child born to a gestational mother under a validated or enforceable gestational agreement.

Question 5

Alleged Father

Answer 5

• A man who alleges himself to be, or is alleged to be, the genetic father or possible genetic father of a child, but whose paternity has not been determined is considered an alleged father. Tex. Fam. Code §101.0015
• Does not include
  -Presumed father,
  -A man whose rights to the child have been terminated or declared to not exist, or
  -A male donor.
• In certain SAPCRs, alleged fathers may have rights to the child
• Alleged fathers can bring a suit for parentage to be named the father.

Question 6

Presumed Father

Answer 6

• Man is presumed to be the father if:
  1. He is married to the child’s mother and the child is born during the marriage;
  2. He was married to the child’s mother and the child was born within 300 days after the marriage terminated;
  3. He married the child’s mother before the birth of the child and child is born during the marriage or within 300 days of it ending;
  4. He married the child’s mother after the birth of the child, he voluntarily asserted his paternity of the child, and (1) the assertion is on record with Texas Vital Statistics Unit, (2) he is voluntarily named as the child’s father on the child’s birth certificate, or (3) he promised in a record to support the child as his own.; or
  5. He continuously lived in the same household with the child during the first two years of the child’s life and represented to others that he was the father.

Question 7

Refuting Presumption

Answer 7

• Presumption can be refuted by:
  -A court order adjudicating parentage; or
  -The filing of both a valid denial of paternity by a presumed father and a valid acknowledgement of paternity by another person.

Question 8

Acknowlegment of Paternity

Answer 8

• Father must sign
• Mother must sign
• Must state that there’s no presumed, adjudicated or acknowledged father
• Must include whether genetic testing has been performed and the results.
• If there’s a presumed father, the presumed father must also sign denying paternity.
• A properly executed AOP filed with the Texas Vital Statistics Office is the equivalent of an adjudication of paternity conferring on the father all the rights and duties of a parent.
• Name on birth certificate not enough to establish paternity

Question 9

Determination of Parentage Suits

Answer 9

• Not allowed to be determined by a jury
• Suits to establish maternity have been rare but with the increasing number of same sex relationships with children, they are becoming more common.
• Crafty lawyers argue that the elements to determine a presumed father should be the same for a “presumed mother”
• Mainly, parentage suits still widely used to determine who the father is of a child.
• When to file:
  -If no presumed, acknowledged, or adjudicated father, parentage suit can be filed at any time.
  -If presumed father: four years after child’s birth