Parentage, Adoption and Assisted Reproduction: every key term you need (+ practice quiz)
25 flashcard terms for Family Law Topic 7, written to match the course framework. Study them here, then drill them as interactive flashcards, or test yourself with the 15-question quiz — free, no account needed.
The rule treating a mother's husband as the legal father of a child born during the marriage, historically rebuttable only in narrow circumstances.
Michael H. v. Gerald D.
Upheld a statute barring a biological father from rebutting the marital presumption, reasoning that the unitary marital family is the relevant protected tradition.
Voluntary acknowledgment of paternity
A signed administrative form that establishes legal fatherhood without litigation and becomes a binding judgment after a short rescission and challenge window.
Genetic testing in parentage actions
Statutory procedures ordering blood or tissue testing, with results above a threshold probability creating a presumption or conclusive proof of paternity.
Paternity by estoppel
Bars a man who held a child out as his own and supported the child from later denying parentage when disestablishment would harm the child's reliance.
Disestablishment statute
Legislation allowing a legal father to terminate his status on proof of nonpaternity, often conditioned on prompt filing and absence of fraud by the petitioner.
Stanley v. Illinois
Held that an unwed father is entitled to a fitness hearing before his children may be taken, invalidating an automatic presumption of unfitness.
Lehr v. Robertson
Established that an unwed father's constitutional protection depends on grasping the opportunity interest by developing a relationship with the child.
Putative father registry
A filing system requiring unwed fathers to register to receive notice of adoption proceedings, upheld as a reasonable notice mechanism if adequately publicized.
Consent to adoption
The required written agreement of each legal parent, typically executable only after birth and revocable for a short statutory period thereafter.
Termination of parental rights
A judicial severance of the legal parent-child relationship on grounds such as abandonment, chronic abuse, or failure to remedy conditions, needed before a nonconsensual adoption.
Santosky v. Kramer
Held that due process requires at least clear and convincing evidence before a state may permanently terminate parental rights.
Agency adoption
A placement arranged through a licensed public or private agency that takes custody, screens applicants, and supervises the transition before finalization.
Independent adoption
A direct placement by birth parents with adoptive parents, permitted in most states with statutory limits on payments and required counseling or court approval.
Stepparent adoption
A streamlined proceeding in which a spouse adopts the other's child, terminating the noncustodial parent's rights and often waiving home study requirements.
Second parent adoption
Allows a partner to adopt without terminating the existing legal parent's rights, historically vital for same-sex couples before nationwide marriage recognition.
Equitable adoption
A doctrine recognizing an unperformed agreement to adopt for limited purposes, usually inheritance, where the child lived as a member of the household.
Indian Child Welfare Act
Federal law imposing heightened standards and tribal placement preferences in custody and adoption proceedings involving children eligible for tribal membership.
Open adoption agreement
A contract for continuing contact between the birth family and the adopted child, enforceable in many states if approved by the court and consistent with the child's welfare.
Wrongful adoption claim
A tort action against an agency for intentionally or negligently misrepresenting a child's medical or family history to prospective adoptive parents.
Artificial insemination consent statute
Widely adopted legislation making the consenting spouse the legal parent of a child conceived by donor insemination and cutting off the donor's rights and duties.
Gestational surrogacy
An arrangement in which the carrier has no genetic link to the child, treated far more favorably by modern statutes than traditional surrogacy.
In re Baby M
Invalidated a traditional surrogacy contract as contrary to public policy while awarding custody to the biological father under a best interests analysis.
Johnson v. Calvert
Resolved a gestational surrogacy dispute by looking to the parties' intent to procreate, recognizing the intended mother as the legal parent.
Disposition of frozen embryos
Courts apply a contractual approach where a valid prior agreement exists, and otherwise balance the interests, usually favoring the party avoiding unwanted procreation.