BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1476
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Date of Hearing: August 8, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
SB 1476 (Leno) - As Amended: July 2, 2012
Policy Committee: JudiciaryVote:7 -
2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill allows the courts, in appropriate cases, to find that
a child has more than two legal parents. Specifically, this
bill:
1)Provides that nothing in the Uniform Parentage Act should be
construed to preclude a finding that a child has a
parent-child relationship with more than two parents.
2)Allows a court to find that a presumption of paternity is not
necessarily rebutted by a judgment establishing paternity by
another person.
3)Provides that where two or more claims or presumptions of
parentage have been established, a court may find that a child
has more than two natural or adoptive parents if such a
finding serves the best interests of the child.
4)Provides that in any case where a child has more than two
legal parents, the court shall allocate custody and visitation
among the parents based on the best interest of the child,
including, but not limited to stability for the child.
5)Provides that, in any case in which a child has more than two
legal parents, the court shall not use the child support
guideline, but should instead divide the child support
obligations among the parents based on income and the amount
of time spent with the child by each parent, according to the
principles set forth in existing law, adjusted to permit
recognition of two parents.
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6)Provides that child support obligations based on more than two
parents shall not be construed to require reprogramming of the
California Child Support Automation System, a change in the
guideline, or a revision in any Department of Child Support
Services' (DCSS) regulation, policy, procedure, form or
training material.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Minor costs to DCSS.
Because it is likely that there will be few cases where a
court finds that a child has more than two parents, DCSS
should not need to reprogram the statewide child support
automation system or make any changes to its uniform
guidelines.
DCSS, however, contends that this legislation will require
$6.4 million for the one-time costs associated with
reprogramming the child support automation system, updating
training materials, child support regulations, data reports,
policies, and procedures which will all take approximately
18,000 staff hours. The bill, however, explicitly states that
changes need not be made to the support automation system, the
uniform child support guidelines or any other DCSS forms or
materials. In addition, it is likely that local child support
agencies are already dealing with complex family structures
and multiple parents in their efforts to recoup CalWORKs
payments and foster care payments. Therefore, any costs to
DCSS should be minor and absorbable within existing resources.
2)To the extent a court establishes more than two parents and
this bill allows a third parent to take custody of child who
would otherwise be placed in foster care, it would result in
minor savings to the child welfare system.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . This bill expands current law to allow that where th
more than two people have established claims or presumptions
of parentage under existing California law, the court may
recognize more than two parents, but only if doing so is
required to protect the best interests of the child.
Courts already have to recognize more than two legal parents
SB 1476
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in at least two situations. First, other states have
recognized that a child may have more than two legal parents.
Under the Full Faith and Credit Clause, California is required
to honor the acts and judicial proceedings of the courts of
these other states. Additionally, courts currently recognize
tribal customary adoption. Tribal customary adoption, in an
aim to protect both Native American children and their
interests in having tribal membership and legal connections to
the tribal community, provides that a parent's rights need not
be terminated upon adoption of the child. Accordingly, a
Native American child may have up to four legal parents - two
natural parents and two adoptive.
2)Paternity Presumption . Legal parenthood can be established in
a number of different ways. A man is conclusively presumed to
be the father of a child if he was married to, or in a
registered domestic partnership with, and cohabitating with
the child's mother, except as specified. A man who receives a
child into his home and holds the child out as his own is also
presumed a father of the child. A man who signs a voluntary
declaration of paternity is presumed to be the legal father of
a child. While the statutory scheme uses the word father, the
presumptions must be applied gender neutrally, so they apply
to mothers as well. (See, e.g., Elisa B. V. Superior Court
(2005) 37 Cal.4th 108.)
Because of the presumptions of paternity available under law,
it is possible in limited situations for more than two people
to claim parentage of a child. The Family Code provides that
where two or more presumptions arise that are in conflict with
each other, the presumption which on the facts is founded on
the weightier considerations of policy and logic controls. In
2011 a Court of Appeal held that when two or more people meet
the legal definition of a parent, a court may recognize only
two of them as legal parents. (In re M.C. (2011) 195
Cal.App.4th 197.)
Analysis Prepared by : Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)
319-2081