14-2-608, a valid denial of paternity by a presumed father filed

14-2-608, a valid denial of paternity by a presumed father filed with the state office of vital records in conjunction with a valid acknowledgment of paternity is equivalent to an adjudication of the nonpaternity of the presumed father and discharges the presumed father from all rights and duties of a parent.

14-2-606. No filing fee.

The state office of vital records shall not charge for filing an acknowledgment of paternity or denial of paternity.

14-2-607. Proceeding for rescission.

(a) A signatory may rescind an acknowledgment of paternity or denial of paternity by commencing a proceeding to rescind before the earlier of:

(i) Sixty (60) days after the effective date of the acknowledgment or denial, as provided in W.S. 14-2-604; or

(ii) The date of the first hearing in a proceeding to which the signatory is a party before a court to adjudicate an issue relating to the child, including a proceeding that establishes support.

14-2-608. Challenge after expiration of period for rescission.

(a) After the period for rescission under W.S. 14-2-607 has expired, a signatory of an acknowledgment of paternity or denial of paternity may commence a proceeding to challenge the acknowledgment or denial only:

(i) On the basis of fraud, duress or material mistake of fact; and

(ii) Within two (2) years after the acknowledgment or denial is filed with the state office of vital records.

(b) A party challenging an acknowledgment of paternity or denial of paternity has the burden of proof.  14-2-609. Procedure for rescission or challenge.

(a) Every signatory to an acknowledgment of paternity and any related denial of paternity shall be made a party to a proceeding to rescind or challenge the acknowledgment or denial.

(b) For the purpose of rescission of, or challenge to, an acknowledgment of paternity or denial of paternity, a signatory submits to personal jurisdiction of this state by signing the acknowledgment or denial, effective upon the filing of the document with the state office of vital records.

(c) Except for good cause shown, during the pendency of a proceeding to rescind or challenge an acknowledgment of paternity or denial of paternity, the court may not suspend the legal responsibilities of a signatory arising from the acknowledgment, including the duty to pay child support.

(d) A proceeding to rescind or to challenge an acknowledgment of paternity or denial of paternity shall be conducted in the same manner as a proceeding to adjudicate parentage under article 8 of this act.

(e) At the conclusion of a proceeding to rescind or challenge an acknowledgment of paternity or denial of paternity, the court shall order the state office of vital records to amend the birth record of the child, if appropriate.

14-2-610. Ratification barred.

A court or administrative agency conducting a judicial or administrative proceeding is not required or permitted to ratify an unchallenged acknowledgment of paternity.

14-2-611. Full faith and credit.

A court of this state shall give full faith and credit to an acknowledgment of paternity or denial of paternity effective in another state if the acknowledgment or denial has been signed and is otherwise in compliance with the law of the other state.

14-2-612. Forms for acknowledgment and denial of paternity.

(a) To facilitate compliance with this article, the state office of vital records shall prescribe forms for the acknowledgment of paternity and the denial of paternity.  (b) A valid acknowledgment of paternity or denial of paternity is not affected by a later modification of the prescribed form.

(c) Every hospital or birthing center located in the state shall provide to any person who holds himself out to be the natural parent of a child born in the state an affidavit of paternity pursuant to this act. The facility providing the affidavit shall forward the completed affidavit to the state office of vital records. Upon request, the state office of vital records shall provide blank affidavits of paternity to any facility making the request under this subsection.

14-2-613. Release of information.

The state office of vital records may release information relating to the acknowledgment of paternity or denial of paternity to a signatory of the acknowledgment or denial, to courts and to the Title IV-D agency of this or another state.

14-2-614. Adoption of rules.

The state office of vital records may adopt rules to implement this article.

ARTICLE 7 - GENETIC TESTING

14-2-701. Scope of article.

(a) This article governs genetic testing of an individual to determine parentage, whether the individual:

(i) Voluntarily submits to testing; or

(ii) Is tested pursuant to an order of the court or a child support enforcement agency.

14-2-702. Order for testing.

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this article and article 8 of this act, the court shall order the child and other designated individuals to submit to genetic testing if the request for testing is supported by the sworn statement of a party to the proceeding:  (i) Alleging paternity and stating facts establishing a reasonable probability of the requisite sexual contact between the individuals; or

(ii) Denying paternity and stating facts establishing a possibility that sexual contact between the individuals, if any, did not result in the conception of the child.

(b) A child support enforcement agency may order genetic testing only if there is no presumed, acknowledged or adjudicated father.

(c) If a request for genetic testing of a child is made before birth, the court or child support enforcement agency may not order in-utero testing.

(d) If two (2) or more men are subject to court-ordered genetic testing, the testing may be ordered concurrently or sequentially.

14-2-703. Requirements for genetic testing.

(a) Genetic testing shall be of a type reasonably relied upon by experts in the field of genetic testing and performed in a testing laboratory accredited by:

(i) The American Association of Blood Banks, or a successor to its functions;

(ii) The American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics, or a successor to its functions; or

(iii) An accrediting body designated by the United States secretary of health and human services.

(b) A specimen used in genetic testing may consist of one (1) or more samples, or a combination of samples, of blood, buccal cells, bone, hair, or other body tissue or fluid. The specimen used in the testing is not required to be of the same kind for each individual undergoing genetic testing.

(c) Based on the ethnic or racial group of an individual, the testing laboratory shall determine the databases from which to select frequencies for use in calculation of the probability of paternity. If there is disagreement as to the testing laboratory's choice, the following rules apply:  (i) The individual objecting may require the testing laboratory, within thirty (30) days after receipt of the report of the test, to recalculate the probability of paternity using an ethnic or racial group different from that used by the laboratory.

(ii) The individual objecting to the testing laboratory's initial choice shall:

(A) If the frequencies are not available to the testing laboratory for the ethnic or racial group requested, provide the requested frequencies compiled in a manner recognized by accrediting bodies; or

(B) Engage another testing laboratory to perform the calculations.

(iii) The testing laboratory may use its own statistical estimate if there is a question regarding which ethnic or racial group is appropriate. If available, the testing laboratory shall calculate the frequencies using statistics for any other ethnic or racial group requested.

(d) If, after recalculation using a different ethnic or racial group, genetic testing does not rebuttably identify a man as the father of a child under W.S. 14-2-605, an individual who has been tested may be required to submit to additional genetic testing.

14-2-704. Report of genetic testing.

(a) A report of genetic testing shall be in a record and signed under penalty of perjury by a designee of the testing laboratory. A report made under the requirements of this article is self-authenticating.

(b) Documentation from the testing laboratory of the following information is sufficient to establish a reliable chain of custody that allows the results of genetic testing to be admissible without testimony:

(i) The names and photographs of the individuals whose specimens have been taken;

(ii) The names of the individuals who collected the specimens;  (iii) The places and dates the specimens were collected;

(iv) The names of the individuals who received the specimens in the testing laboratory; and

(v) The dates the specimens were received.

14-2-705. Genetic testing results; rebuttal.

(a) Under this act, a man is rebuttably identified as the father of a child if the genetic testing complies with this article and the results disclose that:

(i) The man has at least a ninety-nine percent (99%) probability of paternity, using a prior probability of one-half (1/2), as calculated by using the combined paternity index obtained in the testing; and

(ii) A combined paternity index of at least one hundred (100) to one (1).

(b) A man identified under subsection (a) of this section as the father of the child may rebut the genetic testing results only by other genetic testing satisfying the requirements of this article which:

(i) Excludes the man as a genetic father of the child; or

(ii) Identifies another man as the possible father of the child.

(c) Except as otherwise provided in W.S. 14-2-710, if more than one (1) man is identified by genetic testing as the possible father of the child, the court shall order them to submit to further genetic testing to identify the genetic father.

14-2-706. Costs of genetic testing.

(a) Subject to assessment of costs under article 7 of this act, the cost of initial genetic testing shall be advanced:

(i) By a child support enforcement agency in a proceeding in which the agency is providing services;  (ii) By the individual who made the request;

(iii) As agreed by the parties; or

(iv) As ordered by the court.

(b) In cases in which the cost is advanced by the child support enforcement agency, the agency may seek reimbursement from a man who is rebuttably identified as the father.

14-2-707. Additional genetic testing.

The court or the child support enforcement agency shall order additional genetic testing upon the request of a party who contests the result of the original testing. If the previous genetic testing identified a man as the father of the child under W.S. 14-2-705, the court or agency may not order additional testing unless the party provides advance payment for the testing.

14-2-708. Deceased individual.

For good cause shown, the court may order genetic testing of a deceased individual.

14-2-709. Identical brothers.

(a) The court may order genetic testing of a brother of a man identified as the father of a child if the man is commonly believed to have an identical brother and evidence suggests that the brother may be the genetic father of the child.

(b) If each brother satisfies the requirements as the identified father of the child under W.S. 14-2-705 without consideration of another identical brother being identified as the father of the child, the court may rely on nongenetic evidence to adjudicate which brother is the father of the child.

14-2-710. Confidentiality of genetic testing.

(a) In all cases where paternity testing is undertaken, all genetic information, including genetic material and test results, shall be maintained only as long as an accreditation body specified in W.S. 14-2-703 requires such materials to be maintained for accreditation purposes. Thereafter, all materials shall be destroyed or returned to the individual from whom the information was obtained.  (b) No testing shall be conducted on any identifiable genetic material for purposes other than paternity determination without the written consent of the individual from whom the genetic material is obtained.

(c) All information obtained from identifiable genetic material submitted or used for determination of paternity shall be confidential and used solely for the purposes of determining paternity, unless individual identifiers are removed from the data used for purposes other than establishing paternity.

(d) For purposes of this section, "genetic information" means any information about genes, gene products or inherited characteristics that may derive from the individual or a family member, including, but not limited to, information:

(i) Regarding carrier status;

(ii) Regarding an increased likelihood of future disease or increased sensitivity to any substance;

(iii) Derived from laboratory tests that identify mutations in specific genes or chromosomes, physical medical examinations, family histories, requests for genetic services or counseling, tests of gene products and direct analysis of genes or chromosomes.

(e) Release of any information obtained in paternity testing without the written consent of the individual from whom the genetic material is obtained to anyone not directly involved in the paternity determination shall be a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punishable by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00), imprisonment for not more than one (1) year, or both fine and imprisonment.

(f) An individual who intentionally releases an identifiable specimen of another individual for any purpose other than that relevant to the proceeding regarding parentage without a court order or the written permission of the individual who furnished the specimen commits a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00), imprisonment for not more than one (1) year, or both fine and imprisonment.

ARTICLE 8 - PROCEEDING TO ADJUDICATE PARENTAGE  14-2-801. Proceeding authorized.

A civil proceeding may be maintained to adjudicate the parentage of a child. The proceeding is governed by the Wyoming Rules of Civil Procedure.

14-2-802. Standing to maintain proceeding.

(a) Subject to article 5 of this act and W.S. 14-2-807 and