2006 Delaware Code - Subchapter II — Parent-Child Relationship

§ 8-201. Establishment of parent-child relationship.

(a) The mother-child relationship is established between a woman and a child by:

(1) The woman's having given birth to the child;

(2) An adjudication of the woman's maternity; or

(3) Adoption of the child by the woman.

(b) The father-child relationship is established between a man and a child by:

(1) An unrebutted presumption of the man's paternity of the child under § 8-204 of this title;

(2) An effective acknowledgment of paternity by the man under subchapter III of this chapter, unless the acknowledgment has been rescinded or successfully challenged;

(3) An adjudication of the man's paternity;

(4) Adoption of the child by the man; or

(5) The man's having consented to assisted reproduction by a woman under subchapter VII of this chapter which resulted in the birth of the child. (74 Del. Laws, c. 136, § 1; 70 Del. Laws, c. 186, § 1.)

§ 8-202. No discrimination based on martial status.

A child born to parents who are not married to each other has the same rights under the law as a child born to parents who are married to each other. (74 Del. Laws, c. 136, § 1.)

§ 8-203. Consequences of establishment of parentage.

Unless parental rights are terminated, a parent-child relationship established under this chapter applies for all purposes, except as otherwise specifically provided by other law of this State. (74 Del. Laws, c. 136, § 1.)

§ 8-204. Presumption of paternity in context of marriage.

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

(1) He and the mother of the child are married to each other and the child is born during the marriage;

(2) He and the mother of the child were married to each other and the child is born within 300 days after the marriage is terminated by death, annulment, declaration of invalidity, or divorce;

(3) Before the birth of the child, he and the mother of the child married each other in apparent compliance with law, even if the attempted marriage is or could be declared invalid, and the child is born during the invalid marriage or within 300 days after its termination by death, annulment, declaration of invalidity or divorce;

(4) After the birth of the child, he and the mother of the child married each other in apparent compliance with law, whether or not the marriage is or could be declared invalid, and he voluntarily asserted his paternity of the child, and:

(i) The assertion is in a record filed with the Office of Vital Statistics;

(ii) He agreed to be and is named as the child's father on the child's birth certificate; or

(iii) He promised in a record to support the child as his own; or

(5) For the 1st 2 years of the child's life, he resided in the same household with the child and openly held out the child as his own.

(b) A presumption of paternity established under this section may be rebutted only by an adjudication under subchapter VI of this chapter. (74 Del. Laws, c. 136, § 1; 70 Del. Laws, c. 186, § 1.)