AB424 - Makes various changes relating to parentage. (BDR 11-1081)

A.B. 424 - *AB424* ASSEMBLY BILL NO. 424–ASSEMBLYMEMBER BACKUS MARCH 13, 2025 ____________ Referred to Committee on Judiciary SUMMARY—Makes various changes relating to parentage. (BDR 11-1081) FISCAL NOTE: Effect on Local Government: Increases or Newly Provides for Term of Imprisonment in County or City Jail or Detention Facility. Effect on the State: Yes. ~ EXPLANATION – Matter in bolded italics is new; matter between brackets [omitted material] is material to be omitted. AN ACT relating to parentage; adopting provisions of the Uniform Parentage Act; revising provisions relating to the establishment of a parent and child relationship and the presumption of parentage; establishing provisions concerning the voluntary acknowledgment of parentage and denial of parentage by certain persons; authorizing the State Board of Health to adopt regulations relating to an acknowledgment of parentage or denial of parentage; establishing provisions governing genetic testing in proceedings to adjudicate parentage; establishing and revising various provisions relating to proceedings to adjudicate parentage; authorizing a person who claims to be a de facto parent of a child to be adjudicated as a parent of the child in certain circumstances; authorizing a court to adjudicate a child to have more than two parents in certain circumstances; establishing and revising provisions relating to assisted reproduction and gestational agreements; providing for the right of a gestational carrier to make all health care decisions regarding the gestational carrier and the pregnancy of the gestational carrier; repealing various provisions relating to parentage; providing a penalty; and providing other matters properly relating thereto. – 2 – - *AB424* Legislative Counsel’s Digest: Existing law sets forth provisions governing parentage and the establishment of 1 parent and child relationships. (Chapter 126 of NRS) Sections 29-90 of this bill 2 generally replace such provisions with provisions modeled after those of the 3 Uniform Parentage Act (hereinafter “UPA”), adopted by the Uniform Law 4 Commission in 2017. Sections 4-27 of this bill define terms for the purposes of 5 chapter 126 of NRS that are modeled after the definitions of the terms used in the 6 UPA. 7 Existing law provides the manner in which the legal relationship of a mother 8 and child can be established, including: (1) except in the case of a gestational 9 agreement, proof that a woman gave birth to a child; (2) an adjudication that a 10 woman is the mother of a child; (3) proof that a woman has adopted a child; (4) an 11 unrebutted presumption of a woman’s maternity; (5) the consent of a woman to 12 assisted reproduction that resulted in the birth of a child; or (6) an adjudication 13 confirming a woman as a parent of a child born to a gestational carrier. (NRS 14 126.041) Existing law also provides the manner in which the legal relationship of a 15 father and child can be established, including: (1) an adjudication that a man is the 16 father of a child; (2) proof that a man has adopted a child; (3) the consent of a man 17 to assisted reproduction that resulted in the birth of a child; (4) an adjudication 18 confirming a man as a parent of a child born to a gestational carrier; (5) a 19 presumption of paternity that arises if a man was married to or cohabitating with 20 the natural mother of a child or resides with and holds out a child as his natural 21 child; (6) genetic testing establishing a man as the father of a child; or (7) a 22 voluntary acknowledgment of paternity by a man. (NRS 126.041, 126.051, 23 126.053) Section 35 uses the gender-neutral language of the UPA to set forth the 24 circumstances in which a parent and child relationship is established between a 25 person and a child. Similarly, section 38 uses the gender-neutral language of the 26 UPA to establish the circumstances in which a person is presumed to be a parent of 27 a child. 28 Sections 39-52 establish provisions modeled after those of the UPA relating to 29 the voluntary acknowledgment or voluntary denial of parentage by certain persons, 30 including provisions relating to the requirement for, rescission of and challenge to 31 an acknowledgment of parentage or denial of parentage. Section 43 provides that, 32 unless an acknowledgment of parentage or denial of parentage is rescinded or 33 challenged, such an acknowledgment of parentage or denial of parentage that meets 34 all requirements of law and is filed with the State Registrar of Vital Statistics is 35 equivalent to an adjudication of the parentage of a child or the nonparentage of a 36 person, respectively. Section 44 prohibits the State Registrar of Vital Statistics 37 from charging a fee for filing an acknowledgment of parentage or denial of 38 parentage, and section 52 authorizes the State Board of Health to adopt any 39 necessary regulations relating to an acknowledgment of parentage or denial of 40 parentage. 41 Existing law provides that in an action to determine paternity, a court is 42 authorized or required depending on the circumstances, to order genetic testing of a 43 mother, child, alleged father or any other person. (NRS 126.121) Sections 53-67 44 establish various provisions modeled after those of the UPA concerning genetic 45 testing, including: (1) the limitation on the use of genetic testing; (2) the authority 46 to order, facilitate or deny genetic testing; (3) the requirements of genetic testing; 47 (4) reports and costs of genetic testing; (5) additional genetic testing when a result 48 is contested; (6) genetic testing when a specimen is not available from an alleged 49 genetic parent; and (7) genetic testing of a deceased person or identical sibling. 50 Section 67 provides that a person commits a misdemeanor, if without proper 51 authority, he or she intentionally releases an identifiable specimen of another 52 person collected for genetic testing for a purpose not relevant to a proceeding 53 regarding parentage. 54 – 3 – - *AB424* Existing law establishes various provisions relating to an action to determine 55 paternity or maternity. (NRS 126.071-126.231) Sections 68-88 replace several of 56 those provisions with provisions modeled after those of the UPA governing 57 proceedings to adjudicate parentage. Existing law provides that if an action to 58 determine paternity is brought before the birth of a child, all proceedings are 59 generally required to be stayed until after the birth of the child. (NRS 126.071) 60 Section 83 instead authorizes a proceeding to adjudicate parentage to be 61 commenced, and an order or judgment to be entered before the birth of a child, but 62 requires enforcement of the order or judgment to be stayed until after the birth of 63 the child. 64 Existing law does not bar an action to determine paternity until 3 years after the 65 child reaches the age of majority. (NRS 126.081) Sections 74 and 75 instead 66 provide that a proceeding to determine whether an alleged genetic parent or 67 presumed parent, respectively, is a parent of a child may be commenced after the 68 child becomes an adult if the child initiates the proceeding. 69 Existing law requires that an informal hearing be held after an action to 70 determine paternity has been brought and further requires a court to attempt to 71 resolve the issues raised in the action during the pretrial hearing. (NRS 126.111) 72 Section 139 of this bill repeals the provisions relating to such a pretrial hearing, as 73 the UPA does not require any such pretrial hearing to be conducted. 74 Section 76 authorizes a person who claims to be a de facto parent of a child to 75 commence a proceeding to establish parentage of the child if the child is alive and 76 less than 18 years of age. Section 76 provides that a person who claims to be a de 77 facto parent of a child must be adjudicated as a parent of the child if there is only 78 one other person who is a parent or has a claim to parentage of the child and the 79 person who claims to be a de facto parent can demonstrate certain facts by clear and 80 convincing evidence. Section 80 authorizes a court to adjudicate a child to have 81 more than two parents if the court finds that failure to recognize more than two 82 parents would be detrimental to the child. 83 Existing law establishes provisions concerning assisted reproduction and 84 gestational surrogacy. (NRS 126.500-126.810) This bill establishes only certain 85 provisions modeled after those of the UPA relating to such matters. Section 91 of 86 this bill establishes provisions relating to the parental status of certain persons who 87 die before a child is conceived by assisted reproduction. Section 92 of this bill 88 authorizes a party to a gestational agreement to terminate the agreement at any time 89 before an embryo transfer or, if an embryo transfer does not result in pregnancy, at 90 any time before a subsequent embryo transfer. 91 Existing law requires a gestational agreement to provide for the express written 92 agreement of the gestational carrier to undergo embryo or gamete transfer and 93 attempt to carry and give birth to any resulting child. (NRS 126.750) Section 107 94 of this bill requires a gestational agreement to also provide for the express written 95 agreement of the gestational carrier and any legal spouse or domestic partner of the 96 gestational carrier to acknowledge that each intended parent is the legal and 97 physical custodian of any resulting child. Section 107 also specifies that a 98 gestational carrier has the right to make all health and welfare decisions regarding 99 the gestational carrier and the pregnancy of the gestational carrier, including 100 whether to: (1) consent to a cesarean section or the transfer of multiple embryos; 101 (2) use the services of a health care practitioner chosen by the gestational carrier; 102 (3) terminate or continue the pregnancy; and (4) reduce or retain the number of 103 fetuses or embryos carried by the gestational carrier. Section 107 further provides 104 that any provision in a gestational agreement that contradicts such a right is void 105 and unenforceable. 106 Existing law provides that the subsequent marriage or domestic partnership of a 107 gestational carrier after the execution of a gestational agreement does not affect the 108 validity of the agreement. (NRS 126.770) Section 108 of this bill provides that the 109 – 4 – - *AB424* subsequent marriage, domestic partnership or divorce of any party to a gestational 110 agreement does not affect the validity of the agreement unless the agreement 111 expressly provides otherwise. 112 Existing law provides that if a gestational carrier breaches a gestational 113 agreement, a specific performance remedy that would require the gestational carrier 114 to be impregnated is prohibited. (NRS 126.780) Section 109 of this bill instead 115 provides that specific performance is not an available remedy with regard to a 116 gestational agreement except to enforce any provision in the agreement that is 117 necessary to enable the intended parents to exercise the full rights of parentage 118 immediately upon the birth of the child, if the intended parents are being prevented 119 from exercising such rights. 120 Sections 98-106 of this bill make various other changes to the provisions of 121 existing law concerning assisted reproduction and gestational surrogacy. 122 Section 139 repeals provisions of existing law that are not necessary because 123 of the establishment of the provisions modeled after those of the UPA in 124 sections 29-90. 125 Sections 1, 93-97, 110-136 and 139 of this bill make conforming changes to 126 reflect the revisions made to existing law because of the establishment of the 127 provisions modeled after those of the UPA in sections 29-90 and the repeal of 128 unnecessary provisions in section 139. 129 THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. NRS 125C.003 is hereby amended to read as 1 follows: 2 125C.003 [1.] A court may award primary physical custody 3 to a parent if the court determines that joint physical custody is not 4 in the best interest of a child. An award of joint physical custody is 5 presumed not to be in the best interest of the child if: 6 [(a)] 1. The court determines by substantial evidence that a 7 parent is unable to adequately care for a minor child for at least 146 8 days of the year; 9 [(b) A child is born out of wedlock and the provisions of 10 subsection 2 are applicable;] or 11 [(c)] 2. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 6 of NRS 12 125C.0035 or NRS 125C.210, there has been a determination by the 13 court after an evidentiary hearing and finding by clear and 14 convincing evidence that a parent has engaged in one or more acts 15 of domestic violence against the child, a parent of the child or any 16 other person residing with the child. The presumption created by 17 this [paragraph] subsection is a rebuttable presumption. 18 [2. A court may award primary physical custody of a child 19 born out of wedlock to: 20 (a) The mother of the child if: 21 (1) The mother has not married the father of the child; 22 – 5 – - *AB424* (2) A judgment or order of a court, or a judgment or order 1 entered pursuant to an expedited process, determining the paternity 2 of the child has not been entered; and 3 (3) The father of the child: 4 (I) Is not subject to any presumption of paternity under 5 NRS 126.051; 6 (II) Has never acknowledged paternity pursuant to NRS 7 126.053; or 8 (III) Has had actual knowledge of his paternity but has 9 abandoned the child. 10 (b) The father of the child if: 11 (1) The mother has abandoned the child; and 12 (2) The father has provided sole care and custody of the child 13 in her absence. 14 3. As used in this section: 15 (a) “Abandoned” means that a mother or father has: 16 (1) Failed, for a continuous period of not less than 6 months, 17 to provide substantial personal and economic support to the child; or 18 (2) Knowingly declined, for a continuous period of not less 19 than 6 months, to have any meaningful relationship with the child. 20 (b) “Expedited process” has the meaning ascribed to it in 21 NRS 126.161.] 22 Sec. 2. Chapter 126 of NRS is hereby amended by adding 23 thereto the provisions set forth as sections 3 to 92, inclusive, of this 24 [Text truncated for display. Full text available on LegiScan.]