The Oklahoma Bar Journal January 2026

the parties do not estop them from denying the husband’s parentage and negative genetic test results would not harm the best interests of the child, the court could order genetic testing and enter an order rebutting the marital presump tion consistent with the results of genetic testing. What’s left? Bates would sug gest that the impediment to the validity of the acknowledgment of paternity has been resolved. Arguably, the acknowledgment of paternity springs to life because the presumption causing it to be invalid no longer exists. Who To Genetic Test Alternatively, could you have joined the parties into one action and asked the court to test the man who signed the acknowl edgment instead of testing the husband to rebut the husband’s presumption? Theoretically, yes, because the man who signed the

birth certificate and believes there is no question as to his paternity. However, he is not a legal father yet. Bates v. Copeland explains that the legal father-child relation ship that exists by operation of law with the husband and child cannot be divested by the actions of the mother and another man without notice to the legal father and his opportunity to be heard. 58 A court cannot adjudicate another man to be the father until the underlying marital presumption is rebutted. Assuming the facts sup port this exception to the statute of limitations, you could take the approach of rebutting the marital presumption in a separate action under 10 O.S. §7700-607(B), asking the court to make a finding that the husband neither cohabitated nor engaged in sexual intercourse with the mother at the probable time of conception and has not held the child out as his own. If the court finds that the actions of

two years of the child’s life, and that man has held the child out as his own. In a case involving these competing legal fathers, the following questions arise: Should the parentage claims be adjudicated separately in their own cases or in one case where all parties are joined? Which exception to the stat ute of limitations allows the court to hear this challenge? Which man has a relation ship with the child? Which relationship should the court consider when applying the best interest factors of §608? Which man should be tested marital presumption exists, but the mother and another man signed an acknowledgment of paternity at the time of the child’s birth, falsely denying that the mother was mar ried? Who are the legal fathers? The husband is a presumed father. Is the man who signed the acknowledg ment a legal father? It depends. If the husband also signed a denial of paternity before the child’s second birthday, the acknowledged father is the legal father because the marital presumption has been successfully rebutted by the execu tion of these two forms prior to the child’s second birthday. 56 If the hus band has not signed a denial prior to the child’s second birthday, the acknowledgment is invalid. 57 The acknowledged father is likely on the or is eligible for genetic test ing, and whose legal father child relationship should be confirmed and rebutted? Marital Presumption and Acknowledgment of Paternity What about a case where a

Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Oklahoma Bar Association, its officers, Board of Governors, Board of Editors or staff.

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THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL