LD 1526
pg. 1
LD 1526 Title Page An Act To Enact the Uniform Parentage Act and Conforming Amendments and Additio... Page 2 of 118
Download Bill Text
LR 134
Item 1

 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

 
PART A

 
PREFATORY NOTE

 
The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws
has addressed the subject of parentage throughout the 20th
Century. In 1922, the Conference promulgated the "Uniform
Illegitimacy Act," followed by the "Uniform Blood Tests To
Determine Paternity Act" in 1952, the "Uniform Paternity Act" in
1960, and certain provisions in the "Uniform Probate Code" in
1969. The "Uniform Illegitimacy Act" was withdrawn by the
Conference and none of the other Acts were widely adopted. As of
June 1973, the Blood Tests to Determine Paternity Act had been
enacted in nine states, the "Uniform Paternity Act" in four, and
the "Uniform Probate Code" in five.

 
The most important uniform act addressing the status of the
nonmarital child was the Uniform Parentage Act approved in 1973
[hereinafter referred to as UPA (1973)]. As of December, 2000,
UPA (1973) was in effect in 19 states stretching from Delaware to
California; in addition, many other states have enacted
significant portions of it. Among the many notable features of
this landmark Act was the declaration that all children should be
treated equally without regard to marital status of the parents.
In addition, the Act established a set of rules for presumptions
of parentage, shunned the term "illegitimate," and chose instead
to employ the term "child with no presumed father."

 
UPA (1973) had its genesis in a law review article, Harry D.
Krause, A Proposed Uniform Act on Legitimacy, 44 Tex. L. Rev. 829
(1966); see also Krause, Equal Protection for the Illegitimate,
65 Mich. L. Rev. 477 (1967). Professor Krause followed with a
pathfinding book, Illegitimacy: Law and Social Policy (1971), and
then went on to serve as the reporter for UPA (1973). When work
on the Act began, the notion of substantive legal equality of
children regardless of the marital status of their parents seemed
revolutionary. Even though the Conference had put itself on
record in favor of equal rights of support and inheritance in the
Paternity Act and the Probate Code, the law of many states
continued to differentiate very significantly in the legal
treatment of marital and nonmarital children. A series of United
States Supreme Court decisions invalidating state inheritance,
custody, and tort laws that disadvantaged out-of-wedlock children
provided both the impetus and a receptive climate for the
Conference to promulgate UPA (1973).


LD 1526 Title Page Top of Page Page 2 of 118