Challenging Paternity Five Years After Signing a Declaration

Attorney Answer

You are not required to submit to a paternity test just because your wife's ex is asking — a signed, unrescinded declaration of paternity is legally equivalent to a court finding that you are your daughter's father, and the person pushing for a test may not even have standing to challenge it.

Under Utah Code § 81-5-305, a valid declaration of paternity filed with the Office of Vital Records and Statistics is equivalent to a legal finding of parentage and gives you all the rights and duties of a parent. Signing that paperwork created a legal parent-child relationship, not just an informal one.

That relationship is not easy to undo years later. Utah Code § 81-5-306 allowed a signatory to rescind the declaration by filing a rescission with the Office of Vital Records and Statistics within 60 days of its effective date, or before the first court proceeding about the child in which the signatory was a party — whichever came first. That window closed long ago.

After it closes, Utah Code § 81-5-307 allows a challenge only on the basis of fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact, and the challenging party carries the burden of proof. A challenge based on fraud or duress may be commenced at any time. A challenge based on material mistake of fact — which can include genetic test results excluding the declared father — carries a four-year limit running from the date the declaration was filed.

Just as important, § 81-5-307 limits who may bring that challenge at all to a signatory of the declaration or the state's child support services agency. If your wife's ex never signed the declaration, that section is not a route available to him on his own.

And even if a declaration is set aside, that does not automatically hand legal fatherhood to the biological father. In Scott v. Benson, 2023 UT 4, 529 P.3d 319, the Utah Supreme Court — whose decisions bind every Utah court — rejected the argument that setting a declaration aside for fraud and mutual mistake left no path for the man who signed it to be recognized as the father. The Court affirmed the lower courts, which had voided the declaration and then adjudicated the acknowledged, non-biological man as the child's legal father under the Utah Uniform Parentage Act, applying the statutory factors in Utah Code § 78B-15-608 that govern when a court may disregard genetic test results. One factual difference is worth keeping in mind: in Scott, both signers knew when they signed that he was not the biological father, which affects the fraud analysis even though it does not change the section 608 holding your situation would rely on.

What you can do

1. Locate your copy of the declaration and confirm exactly when it was signed and when it became effective. 2. Do not agree to genetic testing outside of a court proceeding without getting legal advice first. 3. Ask a Utah family law attorney whether the ex has standing to challenge the declaration, and what other route, if any, he could attempt. 4. If a court case is filed, respond promptly and assert the declaration's legal effect — do not let paperwork go unanswered. 5. Gather documentation of your role in raising her — school, medical, and financial records — in case the declaration is ever put at issue in court.

A note on deadlines: which time limit applies — a four-year window, or none at all — depends on the specific ground raised and on when the declaration was filed. Do not assume the answer either way; have a Utah family law attorney review the actual dates in your case.