Fam. Code, § 7581 · Chapter 3. Establishment of Parentage by Voluntary Declaration
Fam. Code, § 7581
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
The following provisions shall apply for voluntary declarations signed on or before December 31, 1996.
(a) Except as provided in subdivision (d), the child of a woman and a man executing a declaration of paternity under this chapter is conclusively presumed to be the man’s child. The presumption under this section has the same force and effect as the presumption under Section 7540.
(b) A voluntary declaration of paternity shall be recognized as the basis for the establishment of an order for child custody or support.
(c) In an action to rebut the presumption created by this section, a voluntary declaration of paternity shall be admissible as evidence to determine paternity of the child named in the voluntary declaration of paternity.
(d) The presumption established by this section may be rebutted by any person by requesting genetic testing pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 7550). The notice of motion for genetic testing pursuant to this section shall be supported by a declaration under oath submitted by the moving party stating the factual basis for placing the issue of paternity before the court. The notice of motion for genetic testing shall be made within three years from the date of execution of the declaration by the attesting father, or by the attesting mother, whichever signature is later. The two-year statute of limitations specified in subdivision (b) of Section 7541 is inapplicable for purposes of this section.
(e) A presumption under this section shall override all statutory presumptions of paternity, except a presumption arising under Section 7540, a claim made pursuant to Section 7555, or as provided in Section 7612.
(f) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2020.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Added by Stats. 2018, Ch. 876, Sec. 45. (AB 2684) Effective January 1, 2019. Section operative January 1, 2020, by its own provisions.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=FAM§ionNum=7581.
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- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
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