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26 1987

STATUS OF CHILDREN ACT, 1987

PART VIII

Presumptions and Evidential Provisions

Abrogation of presumption of legitimacy or illegitimacy.

44. —Any presumption of law as to the legitimacy or illegitimacy of any person is hereby abrogated.

Finding of parentage as evidence in other proceedings.

45. —(1) Where, either before or after the commencement of this Part, a person has been found or adjudged to be a parent of a child in any civil proceedings before a court relating to guardianship ofinfants or maintenance (including affiliation) or under section 215 of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1981 , such a finding or adjudication shall, notwithstanding the fact that that person did or did not offer any defence to the allegation of parentage or was or was not a party to those proceedings, be admissible in evidence in any subsequent civil proceedings for the purpose of proving that that person is or, where not alive, was a parent of that child:

Provided that no finding or adjudication as aforesaid other than a subsisting one shall be admissible in evidence by virtue of this section.

(2) Where evidence that a person has been found or adjudged to be a parent of a child has been submitted in subsequent proceedings by virtue of subsection (1) of this section, then—

(a) that person shall be taken to be or, where he is not alive, to have been a parent of that child, unless the contrary is proved on the balance of probabilities, and

(b) in relation to the prior court proceedings the contents of any document which was before that court, or which contains any pronouncement of that court, shall, without prejudice to the submission of any other admissible evidence for the purpose of identifying the facts on which the finding or adjudication was based, be admissible for that purpose.

(3) Where in subsequent civil proceedings the contents of any document are admissible in evidence by virtue of subsection (2) of this section, a copy of that document, or of the material part thereof, purporting to be certified or otherwise authenticated by or on behalf of the court or authority having custody of that document shall be admissible in evidence and shall be taken to be a true copy of that document or part unless the contrary is shown.

Presumptions of paternity and non-paternity.

46. —(1) Where a woman gives birth to a child—

(a) during a subsisting marriage to which she is a party, or

(b) within the period of ten months after the termination, by death or otherwise, of a marriage to which she is a party,

then the husband of the marriage shall be presumed to be the father of the child unless the contrary is proved on the balance of probabilities.

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section, where a married woman, being a woman who is living apart from her husband under—

(a) a decree of divorce a mensa et thoro, or

(b) a deed of separation,

gives birth to a child more than ten months after the decree was granted or the deed was executed, as the case may be, then her husband shall be presumed not to be the father of the child unless the contrary is proved on the balance of probabilities.

(3) Notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section, where—

(a) the birth of a child is registered in a register maintained under the Births and Deaths Registration Acts, 1863 to 1987, and

(b) the name of a person is entered as the father of the child on the register so maintained,

then the person whose name is so entered shall be presumed to be the father of the child unless the contrary is proved on the balance of probabilities.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (1) of this section “subsisting marriage” shall be construed as including a voidable marriage and the expression “the termination, by death or otherwise, of a marriage” shall be construed as including the annulment of a voidable marriage.

Admissibility of certain evidence.

47. —(1) The evidence of a husband or wife shall be admissible in any proceedings to prove that marital intercourse did or did not take place between them during any period.

(2) The proviso to section 3 of the Evidence Further Amendment Act, 1869, is hereby repealed.