New Mexico Uniform Parentage Act -
Parents who are not married have rights and obligations as set forth by the New Mexico Uniform Parentage Act. The mother-child relationship is established between a woman and a child by: the woman's having given birth to the child; an adjudication of the woman's maternity; or adoption of the child by the woman. The father-child relationship is established between a man and a child by: an unrebutted presumption of the man's paternity of the child pursuant to the New Mexico Uniform Parentage Act; an effective acknowledgment of paternity by the man of the New Mexico Uniform Parentage Act, unless the acknowledgment has been rescinded or successfully challenged; an adjudication of the man's paternity; adoption of the child by the man; or the man's having consented to assisted reproduction by a woman under the New Mexico Uniform Parentage Act that resulted in the birth of the child. A child born to parents who are not married to each other has the same rights pursuant to the law as a child born to parents who are married to each other.
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Paternity-
A man is presumed to be the father of a child if: he and the mother of the child are married to each other and the child is born during the marriage; he and the mother of the child were married to each other and the child is born within three hundred days after the marriage is terminated; before or after the birth of the child, he and the mother of the child married each other; he voluntarily asserted his paternity of the child, and the assertion is in an acknowledgment of paternity on a form provided by the Bureau of Vital Statistics that is filed with the Bureau; he agreed to be and is named as the child's father on the child's birth certificate; or he promised in a record to support the child as his own; or for the first two years of the child's life, he resided in the same household with the child and openly held out the child as his own. The mother of a child and a man claiming to be the genetic father of the child may sign an acknowledgment of paternity with intent to establish the man's paternity. The putative father registry is also the registry of paternity established pursuant to the New Mexico Uniform Parentage Act. Genetic testing may be ordered.Back to Top
District Court Guidelines -
The district court shall issue an order adjudicating whether a man alleged or claiming to be the father is the parent of the child. The district court may assess filing fees, reasonable fees of counsel, experts and the child's guardian ad litem, fees for genetic testing, other costs, necessary travel and other reasonable expenses incurred in a parentage. The district court may award attorney fees. On request of a party and for good cause shown, the district court may order that the name of the child be changed. If the order of the district court is at variance with the child's birth certificate, the district court shall order the Bureau of Vital Statistics to issue an amended birth certificate. The judgment or order may contain any other provision concerning the duty of past and future support, the custody and guardianship of the child, visitation with the child as well as directing the father to pay the reasonable expenses of the mother's pregnancy, birth and confinement. The court shall order child support retroactive to the date of the child's birth, but not to exceed twelve years unless there is a substantial showing that paternity could not have been established and an action for child support could not have been brought within twelve years of the child's birth. In deciding whether or how long to order retroactive support, the court shall consider whether the alleged or presumed father has absconded or could not be located; and whether equitable defenses are applicable. In determining the amount to be paid by a parent for support of the child, a court, child support hearing officer or master shall make such determination in accordance with the provisions of the child support guidelines.
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