Fam. Code, § 7643.5 · Article 1. Determination of Parent and Child Relationship
Fam. Code, § 7643.5
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) Notwithstanding any other law concerning public hearings and records, a hearing or trial held under this part for an action filed on or after January 1, 2023, under Section 7613, subdivision (f) of Section 7630, or Part 7 (commencing with Section 7960), may be held in closed court without admittance of any person other than those necessary to the action or proceeding. Except as provided in subdivision (b), all papers and records, other than the final judgment, pertaining to the action or proceeding, whether part of the permanent record of the court or of a file in a public agency or elsewhere, are subject to inspection and copying only in exceptional cases upon an order of the court for good cause shown.
(b) (1) Papers and records pertaining to the action or proceeding that are part of the permanent record of the court are subject to inspection and copying by the parties to the action, their attorneys, and by agents acting pursuant to written authorization from the parties to the action or their attorneys. An attorney shall obtain the consent of the party to the action before authorizing an agent to inspect and copy the permanent record. An attorney shall also state on the written authorization that the attorney has obtained the consent of the party to authorize an agent to inspect and copy the permanent record.
(2) For purposes of establishing parentage and establishing and enforcing child support orders, papers and records pertaining to the action or proceeding that are part of the permanent record of the court are subject to inspection and copying by any local child support agency, as defined in subdivision (h) of Section 17000.
(c) On or before January 1, 2023, the Judicial Council shall create a new form or modify an existing form, as it deems appropriate, that requires a party initiating an action or proceeding filed under Section 7613, subdivision (f) of Section 7630, or Part 7 (commencing with Section 7960) to designate the action or proceeding as filed under the identified statutory provision.
(d) Notwithstanding Section 4, this section shall apply to all actions filed before January 1, 2023.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 420, Sec. 20. (AB 2960) Effective January 1, 2023.
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=7643.5.
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- sha256 cc80895b3a3de7e8a58dfedbd8745f9fc424e2afa9fc5337c1006676d8c17ccf
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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
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Family Code
- Fam. Code, § 4Printed as Section 4
- Fam. Code, § 7613Printed as Section 7613
- Fam. Code, § 7630Printed as Section 7630
- Fam. Code, div. 12, pt. 7SURROGACY AND DONOR FACILITATORS, ASSISTED REPRODUCTION AGREEMENTS FOR GESTATIONAL CARRIERS, AND OOCYTE DONATIONSPrinted as Part 7 (commencing with Section 7960)
- Fam. Code, § 17000Printed as Section 17000
Cited by 1 provision
Provisions in this library whose text cites Fam. Code, § 7643.5. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
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