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Legal Information: Kansas

Statutes: Kansas

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Updated: 
November 15, 2023

23-2208. Presumption of paternity

(a) A man is presumed to be the father of a child if:

(1) The man and the child’s mother are, or have been, married to each other and the child is born during the marriage or within 300 days after the marriage is terminated by death or by the filing of a journal entry of a decree of annulment or divorce.

(2) Before the child’s birth, the man and the child’s mother have attempted to marry each other by a marriage solemnized in apparent compliance with law, although the attempted marriage is void or voidable and:

(A) If the attempted marriage is voidable, the child is born during the attempted marriage or within 300 days after its termination by death or by the filing of a journal entry of a decree of annulment or divorce; or

(B) if the attempted marriage is void, the child is born within 300 days after the termination of cohabitation.

(3) After the child’s birth, the man and the child’s mother have married, or attempted to marry, each other by a marriage solemnized in apparent compliance with law, although the attempted marriage is void or voidable and:

(A) The man has acknowledged paternity of the child in writing;

(B) with the man’s consent, the man is named as the child’s father on the child’s birth certificate; or

(C) the man is obligated to support the child under a written voluntary promise or by a court order.

(4) The man notoriously or in writing recognizes paternity of the child, including but not limited to a voluntary acknowledgment made in accordance with K.S.A. 23-2223 or K.S.A. 65-2409a, and amendments thereto.

(5) Genetic test results indicate a probability of 97% or greater that the man is the father of the child.

(6) The man has a duty to support the child under an order of support regardless of whether the man has ever been married to the child’s mother.

(b) A presumption under this section may be rebutted only by clear and convincing evidence, by a court decree establishing paternity of the child by another man or as provided in subsection (c). If a presumption is rebutted, the party alleging the existence of a father and child relationship shall have the burden of going forward with the evidence.

(c) If two or more presumptions under this section arise which conflict with each other, the presumption which on the facts is founded on the weightier considerations of policy and logic, including the best interests of the child, shall control.

(d) Full faith and credit shall be given to a determination of paternity made by any other state or jurisdiction, whether the determination is established by judicial or administrative process or by voluntary acknowledgment. As used in this section, “full faith and credit” means that the determination of paternity shall have the same conclusive effect and obligatory force in this state as it has in the state or jurisdiction where made.

(e) If a presumption arises under this section, the presumption shall be sufficient basis for entry of an order requiring the man to support the child without further paternity proceedings.

(f) The donor of semen provided to a licensed physician for use in artificial insemination of a woman other than the donor’s wife is treated in law as if he were not the birth father of a child thereby conceived, unless agreed to in writing by the donor and the woman.