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Texas Family Code - Section 160.302. Execution Of Acknowledgment Of Paternity

Legal Research Home > Texas Lawyer > Family Code > Texas Family Code - Section 160.302. Execution Of Acknowledgment Of Paternity

§ 160.302. EXECUTION OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF PATERNITY.  (a) 
An acknowledgment of paternity must:
		(1)  be in a record;                                                          
		(2)  be signed, or otherwise authenticated, under 
penalty of perjury by the mother and the man seeking to establish 
paternity;
		(3)  state that the child whose paternity is being 
acknowledged:            
			(A)  does not have a presumed father or has a 
presumed father whose full name is stated;  and
			(B)  does not have another acknowledged or 
adjudicated father;             
		(4)  state whether there has been genetic testing and, 
if so, that the acknowledging man's claim of paternity is 
consistent with the results of the testing;  and
		(5)  state that the signatories understand that the 
acknowledgment is the equivalent of a judicial adjudication of the 
paternity of the child and that a challenge to the acknowledgment is 
permitted only under limited circumstances and is barred after four 
years.
	(b)  An acknowledgment of paternity is void if it:                             
		(1)  states that another man is a presumed father of the 
child, unless a denial of paternity signed or otherwise 
authenticated by the presumed father is filed with the bureau of 
vital statistics;
		(2)  states that another man is an acknowledged or 
adjudicated father of the child;  or
		(3)  falsely denies the existence of a presumed, 
acknowledged, or adjudicated father of the child.
	(c)  A presumed father may sign or otherwise authenticate an 
acknowledgment of paternity.

Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 821, § 1.01, eff. June 14, 
2001.      

Last modified: August 11, 2007