TN 27 (12-00)

Child born out of wedlock acquires status of child and father acquires status as parent if:

1. parents intermarry; or

2. child is legitimated by superior court upon petition of reputed father; or

3. (I) father has acknowledged paternity in a written instrument filed during his lifetime and the lifetime of the child with the superior court; or

4. (I*) father has been adjudged the father of the child in a support or paternity proceeding. For claims filed on or after 11/27/98, or pending on that date, a court adjudication of paternity is not required. SSA determines the relationship between the alleged father and the child by applying the standard of proof that the State court would apply.

   NOTE:

   1. Paternity must be proved by clear, cogent, and convincing evidence.

   2. Before 10/01/98, if the action to establish paternity is brought more than 3 years after the birth of the child or is brought after the death of the putative father, paternity shall not be established in a contested case without evidence from a blood or genetic marker test. A contested case is a case in which someone with an interest adverse to the child's claim asserts that interest before a court or SSA.

   3. Effective 10/01/98, if the action to establish paternity is brought more than 3 years after the birth of the child, paternity shall not be established in a contested case without evidence from a blood or genetic marker test.

   4. Effective 10/01/93, if blood or genetic marker tests establish a probability of paternity of less than 85%, the individual is presumed not to be the child's father; if probability of paternity is 97% or higher, the individual is presumed to be the child's father. These presumptions may be rebutted only by clear, cogent, and convincing evidence.

5. Effective 10/01/95, DNA testing may be used to establish a parent-child relationship retroactively to the day before the death of the deceased father or the full retroactive period of the application, whichever is the most recent.

*Any judgment establishing paternity that was entered on or after 10/01/95, but before 10/01/98, or that resulted from an action commenced within that period, has effect from the date of the father's death.