BILL REQ. #:  S-0476.1 

Read first time 01/27/09.   Referred to Committee on Human Services & Corrections.

     AN ACT Relating to documentation necessary to challenge acknowledgment of paternity; and amending RCW 26.26.375.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 26.26.375 and 2002 c 302 s 316 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) After the period for rescission of an acknowledgment of paternity provided in RCW 26.26.330 has passed, a parent executing an acknowledgment of paternity of the child named therein may commence a judicial proceeding for:
     (a) Making residential provisions or a parenting plan with regard to the minor child on the same basis as provided in chapter 26.09 RCW; or
     (b) Establishing a child support obligation under chapter 26.19 RCW and maintaining health insurance coverage under RCW 26.09.105.
     (2) Pursuant to RCW 26.09.010(3), a proceeding authorized by this section shall be entitled "In re the parenting and support of...."
     (3) Before the period for a challenge to the acknowledgment or denial of paternity has elapsed under RCW 26.26.335, the petitioner must specifically allege under penalty of perjury, to the best of the petitioner's knowledge, that: (a) No man other than the man who executed the acknowledgment of paternity is the father of the child; (b) there is not currently pending a proceeding to adjudicate the parentage of the child or that another man is adjudicated the child's father; and (c) the petitioner has provided notice of the proceeding to any other men who have claimed parentage of the child. Should the respondent or any other person appearing in the action deny the allegations, a permanent parenting plan or residential schedule may not be entered for the child without the matter being converted to a proceeding to challenge the acknowledgment of paternity under RCW 26.26.335 and 26.26.340. A copy of the acknowledgment of paternity or the birth certificate issued by the state in which the child was born must be filed with the petition or response. The court may convert the matter to a proceeding to challenge the acknowledgment on its own motion.