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presumption of paternity, the testing should be evaluated as an | | indicator of paternity along with the other evidence of paternity | | presented in the proceeding. Presumably expert testimony will be | | required to provide information about the measure of the weight of | | a test that does not achieve "at least a 99 percent probability of | | paternity, using a prior probability of 0.50, as calculated by | | using the combined paternity index obtained in the testing, and a | | combined paternity index of at least 100 to 1." |
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| | | The inclusion of the first clause in paragraph (4) indicates | | that although a genetic testing exclusion of paternity can be | | absolute, errors (and sometimes fraud) may occur in testing. Some | | courts have imposed a rule that a party must first show the test | | is in error before ordering another test. This imposes an | | impossible burden because the only accurate method to show that a | | test is in error is to repeat the testing. Without this clause, | | some litigants might argue that once an exclusion is obtained it | | is absolute and no other test can be ordered, even when the first | | test is shown to be wrong. |
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| | | The Maine version is gender neutral consistent with other | | Maine amendments to the UPA that recognize the adjudication of | | parentage. |
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| | | The court, without a jury, shall adjudicate parentage of a | | child. |
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| | | (This is section 632 of the UPA.) |
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| | | Source: 42 U.S.C. § 666(a)(5)(I), requiring state law to | | provide that "parties to an action to establish paternity are not | | entitled to trial by jury . . . ." See Appendix: Federal IV-D | | Statute Relating to Parentage, infra. |
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| | | UPA (1973) § 14[(d)] prohibited jury trials in parentage | | proceedings on the basis that "The use of a jury is not desirable | | in the emotional atmosphere of cases of this nature." Congress | | agreed when it enacted an effectively identical prohibition in | | PRWORA (1996). |
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| | | This section is gender neutral consistent with other Maine | | amendments to the UPA. |
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