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9-10-120. Effect of acknowledgment of paternity.
Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
9-10-120. Effect of acknowledgment of paternity.
(a) A man is the father of a child for all intents and purposes if he and the mother execute an acknowledgment of paternity of the child pursuant to § 20-18-408 or § 20-18-409, or a similar acknowledgment executed during the child's minority.
(b)(1) Acknowledgments of paternity shall by operation of law constitute a conclusive finding of paternity, subject to the modification of orders or judgments under § 9-10-115, and shall be recognized by the circuit courts and juvenile divisions thereof as creating a parent and child relationship between father and child.
(2) Such acknowledgments of paternity shall also be recognized as forming the basis for establishment and enforcement of a child support or visitation order without a further proceeding to establish paternity.
(c) The Department of Health shall offer voluntary paternity establishment services in all of its offices throughout the state. The Department of Health shall coordinate such services with the Office of Child Support Enforcement of the Revenue Division of the Department of Finance and Administration.
(d) Upon submission of the acknowledgment of paternity to the Division of Vital Records, the State Registrar of Vital Records shall accordingly establish a new or amended certificate of birth reflecting the name of the father as recited in the acknowledgment of paternity.
(e) The Administrator of the Office of Child Support Enforcement of the Revenue Division of the Department of Finance and Administration and the hospital, birthing center, certified nurse practitioner, or licensed midwife delivering the child shall enter into cooperative agreements to compensate at a rate not to exceed twenty dollars ($20.00) for each acknowledgment of paternity forwa
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 9-10-120
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. A text match is a research starting point; applicability is not established.
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Stable record: arkansas_code:legal_authorities:9-10-120
Source file: gov.ar.code.title.09.odt
Pages: Not recorded – Not recorded
Passage SHA-256: 562fc8ff6e10966fe486d19aa9f374145a18b77cbbd308b37df256c01be7c27f
Source location: content.xml paragraph 3307
Stored source content
9-10-120. Effect of acknowledgment of paternity.
(a) A man is the father of a child for all intents and purposes if he and the mother execute an acknowledgment of paternity of the child pursuant to § 20-18-408 or § 20-18-409, or a similar acknowledgment executed during the child's minority.
(b)(1) Acknowledgments of paternity shall by operation of law constitute a conclusive finding of paternity, subject to the modification of orders or judgments under § 9-10-115, and shall be recognized by the circuit courts and juvenile divisions thereof as creating a parent and child relationship between father and child.
(2) Such acknowledgments of paternity shall also be recognized as forming the basis for establishment and enforcement of a child support or visitation order without a further proceeding to establish paternity.
(c) The Department of Health shall offer voluntary paternity establishment services in all of its offices throughout the state. The Department of Health shall coordinate such services with the Office of Child Support Enforcement of the Revenue Division of the Department of Finance and Administration.
(d) Upon submission of the acknowledgment of paternity to the Division of Vital Records, the State Registrar of Vital Records shall accordingly establish a new or amended certificate of birth reflecting the name of the father as recited in the acknowledgment of paternity.
(e) The Administrator of the Office of Child Support Enforcement of the Revenue Division of the Department of Finance and Administration and the hospital, birthing center, certified nurse practitioner, or licensed midwife delivering the child shall enter into cooperative agreements to compensate at a rate not to exceed twenty dollars ($20.00) for each acknowledgment of paternity forwarded by the hospital, birthing center, certified nurse practitioner, or licensed midwife to the office.
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Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
20-18-408. Notice to parents regarding affidavits of paternity.
Upon the birth of a child to a woman who was unmarried at the time of either conception or birth or between conception and birth, the person responsible under § 20-18-401 for providing birth registration information shall:
(1) Provide an opportunity for the child's mother and natural father to complete an affidavit acknowledging paternity, to include such information as is required by the court to establish paternity and establish a child support obligation and to be filed with the Division of Vital Records;
(2) Provide written information, furnished by the Office of Child Support Enforcement, to the child's mother and natural father explaining the implications of signing an affidavit of paternity and parental rights and responsibilities; and
(3) Provide written information, furnished by the office, to the child's mother regarding the benefits of having her child's paternity established and the availability of paternity establishment services, including a request for child support enforcement services.
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 20-18-408
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. The source passage cites 20-18-408. This identifies an authority to review, not proof of applicability.
Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
20-18-409. Disclosure of affidavits.
(a) The hospital, birthing center, certified nurse practitioner, or licensed midwife shall make available to the Office of Child Support Enforcement of the Revenue Division of the Department of Finance and Administration completed affidavits of paternity. Such a disclosure shall constitute an exception to the general prohibition under § 20-18-304.
(b) Information obtained by the office pursuant to this section may be used in an action or proceeding before any court, administrative tribunal, or other body for the purpose of establishing a child support obligation or collecting the child support obligation.
(c)(1)(A) The Division of Children and Family Services of the Department of Human Services may obtain a certified copy of a completed affidavit of paternity from the Division of Vital Records of the Department of Health.
(B) The disclosure of the affidavit is exempted under § 20-18-304.
(2) Information obtained by the Division of Children and Family Services of the Department of Human Services under subdivision (c)(1)(A) of this section may be used in an action before a circuit court for the purpose of identifying a parent in a dependency-neglect proceeding under § 9-27-303.
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 20-18-409
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. The source passage cites 20-18-409. This identifies an authority to review, not proof of applicability.
Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
9-10-115. Modification of orders or judgments.
(a) The circuit court may at any time enlarge, diminish, or vacate any order or judgment in the proceedings under this section except in regard to the issue of paternity as justice may require and on such notice to the defendant as the court may prescribe.
(b) The court shall not set aside, alter, or modify any final decree, order, or judgment of paternity in which paternity blood testing, genetic testing, or other scientific evidence was used to determine the adjudicated father as the biological father.
(c) Any signatory to a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity may rescind the acknowledgment by completing a form provided for that purpose and filing the form with the Division of Vital Records of the Department of Health:
(1) Prior to the date that an administrative or judicial proceeding, including a proceeding to establish a support order, is held relating to the child and the person executing the voluntary acknowledgment of paternity is a party; or
(2) Within sixty (60) days of executing the voluntary acknowledgment of paternity,
whichever date occurs first.
(d)(1) Beyond the sixty-day period or other limitation set forth in subsection (c) of this section, a person may challenge a paternity establishment pursuant to a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity or an order based on an acknowledgment of paternity only upon an allegation of fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact.
(2) The burden of proof shall be upon the person challenging the establishment of paternity.
(e)(1)(A) When any man has been adjudicated to be the father of a child or is deemed to be the father of a child pursuant to an acknowledgment of paternity without the benefit of scientific testing for paternity and as a result was ordered
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 9-10-115
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. The source passage cites 9-10-115. This identifies an authority to review, not proof of applicability.