Heads Up! Washington State Changes Parentage Laws

The Washington State legislature passed Senate Bill 6037, a revision of The Uniform Parentage Act, in early 2018 and which will go into effect on January 1^st, 2019. The revision of the law “necessitates changes to King County family law procedures and the creation of new case types. The new case types require new notices and case schedules that will be issued at the time of filing.”

From Barbara Miner, Director and Superior Court Clerk:

“The new UPA:

• Creates a way to establish parentage for people who utilize surrogates or assisted reproduction technologies to have a child.
• Creates the ability for parents who were not included in a prior adjudication or Paternity Acknowledgement to establish parentage.
• Creates a new framework for a victim of sexual assault to preclude the perpetrator from establishing parentage.
• Creates a statutory framework for establishing de facto parentage.

The following documents, some new and some updated, will be issued at the time of filing in order to implement the Act:

1. New notices to parties filing a Petition to Decide Parentage based on Genetic Surrogacy and a Petition to Decide Parentage based on Gestational Surrogacy or Assisted Reproduction;
2. An amended Parentage case schedule, which includes information about sexual assault allegations and steps a parent must take if they are filing to establish parentage because they were not included in a Paternity Acknowledgment or previous adjudication; and
3. A new case schedule for parties filing a Petition for De Facto Parentage”

The revised UPA also changes which documents are publicly accessible. As of January 1^st, 2019, only the final order in the determination of parentage will be a publicly accessible document. All other records in the court file will require a court order or consent of the parties.

Questions?
If you have any questions about gaining access to King County Superior Court records and documents, the rest of the Washington State Courts, or would like information about any of our other products and services, contact us at customerservice@courttrax.com or give us a call: 866-643-7084 (Option 2).