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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
South Australia
Family Relationships (Parentage) Amendment
Bill 2010
A BILL FOR
An Act to amend the Family Relationships Act 1975.
Contents
Part 1—Preliminary
1 Short
title
2 Commencement
3 Amendment provisions
Part 2—Amendment of Family Relationships
Act 1975
4 Amendment of
section 5—Interpretation
5 Amendment of
section 7—Recognition of paternity
6 Amendment of
section 8—Presumption as to parentage
7 Amendment of section
9—Declaration of parentage
8 Amendment of section 10—Saving
provision
9 Amendment of
section 10A—Interpretation
10 Amendment of
section 10B—Application of Part
11 Substitution of
sections 10C, 10D and 10E
10C Rules relating to
parentage
12 Amendment of section 10EA—Court order relating
to paternity
Schedule 1—Transitional
provision
1 Immunity
The Parliament of South Australia enacts as
follows:
This Act may be cited as the Family Relationships (Parentage) Amendment
Act 2010.
This Act will come into operation—
(a) on a day to be fixed by proclamation; or
(b) 12 months after the day on which it is assented to by the
Governor,
whichever is the sooner.
In this Act, a provision under a heading referring to the amendment of a
specified Act amends the Act so specified.
Part 2—Amendment
of Family Relationships
Act 1975
4—Amendment of
section 5—Interpretation
(1) Section 5—after the definition of child born outside
marriage insert:
co-parent, of a child, means a person who is taken to be a
co-parent of the child under Part 2A;
(2) Section 5—after the definition of Court
insert:
domestic partner—see section 11A;
(3) Section 5—after its present contents (now to be designated
as subsection (1)) insert:
(2) A reference in this or any other Act to the mother, father or parent
(however described) of a child will, unless the contrary intention appears, be
taken to include a reference to a co-parent of the child (regardless of the sex
of the co-parent).
5—Amendment of
section 7—Recognition of paternity
(1) Section 7(d)—delete "child." and substitute:
child,
(2) Section 7—after paragraph (d) insert:
and no other person is, under this Act, taken to be the father or co-parent
of the child.
6—Amendment of
section 8—Presumption as to parentage
(1) Section 8—after "husband" wherever occurring
insert:
or domestic partner
(2) Section 8—after its present contents (now to be designated
as subsection (1)) insert:
(2) For the purposes of this section, a reference to a marriage includes a
reference to a qualifying relationship (within the meaning of
Part 2A).
7—Amendment of
section 9—Declaration of parentage
(1) Section 9(1)(a)—after "father" insert:
or co-parent
(2) Section 9(1)(b)—delete "and child exists between himself
and a particular person" and substitute:
or co-parent and child exists between that person and another
person
(3) Section 9(1)(c)—after "father" first occurring
insert:
or co-parent
(4) Section 9(1)(c)—delete "the relationship of father and
child" and substitute:
such relationship
(5) Section 9(1)—delete "paternity" first occurring and
substitute:
parentage
(6) Section 9(1)—delete "a declaration of paternity" and
substitute:
such a declaration
(7) Section 9(4)—after "father" insert:
or co-parent
8—Amendment of
section 10—Saving provision
Section 10(d)—delete paragraph (d) and
substitute:
(d) the operation of, or the consequences at law or in equity of an order
under, Part 2A or 2B of this Act.
9—Amendment of
section 10A—Interpretation
(1) Section 10A(1)—after the definition of married
woman insert:
qualifying relationship means a marriage-like relationship
between 2 people who are domestic partners (whether of the same or opposite
sex);
(2) Section 10A—after subsection (2) insert:
(3) For the purposes of this Part, a reference to the domestic partner of
a person in respect of a qualifying relationship means the domestic partner
comprising part of that qualifying relationship.
10—Amendment of
section 10B—Application of Part
Section 10B(4)—delete subsection (4)
11—Substitution of
sections 10C, 10D and 10E
Sections 10C, 10D and 10E—delete the sections and
substitute:
10C—Rules relating to
parentage
(1) A woman who gives birth to a child is, for the purposes of the law of
the State, the mother of the child (whether the child was conceived by the
fertilisation of an ovum taken from that woman or another woman).
(2) If—
(a) a woman becomes pregnant in consequence of a fertilisation procedure;
and
(b) the ovum used for the purposes of the procedure was taken from another
woman,
then, for the purposes of the law of the State, the woman from whom the
ovum was taken will be taken not to be the mother of any child born as a result
of the pregnancy.
(3) If a woman who is legally married or in a qualifying relationship
undergoes, with the consent of her husband or domestic partner (as the case
requires), a fertilisation procedure in consequence of which she becomes
pregnant, then, for the purposes of the law of the State, the husband or
domestic partner—
(a) will be conclusively presumed to have caused the pregnancy;
and
(b) will be taken to be—
(i) in the case of a husband or male domestic partner—the father;
or
(ii) in any other case—a co-parent,
of any child born as a result of the pregnancy.
(4) If—
(a) a woman becomes pregnant in consequence of a fertilisation procedure;
and
(b) a man (not being the woman's husband or, if she is in a qualifying
relationship, her domestic partner) produced sperm used for the purposes of the
procedure,
then, for the purposes of the law of the State, the man—
(c) will be conclusively presumed not to have caused the pregnancy;
and
(d) will be taken not to be the father of any child born as a result of
the pregnancy.
(5) If a woman becomes pregnant in consequence of a fertilisation
procedure using the semen of a man—
(a) who has died; and
(b) who, immediately before his death, was the woman's husband, or was
living with the woman in a qualifying relationship; and
(c) who had consented to the use of the semen for the purposes of the
fertilisation procedure,
the man—
(d) will be conclusively presumed to have caused the pregnancy;
and
(e) will be taken to be the father of any child born as a result of the
pregnancy.
(6) For the purposes of this section, a husband or domestic partner will,
in the absence of proof to the contrary, be presumed to have consented to a
woman undergoing a fertilisation procedure.
(7) This section applies in relation to a child regardless of when the
child was born.
(8) However, nothing in this section prevents a person becoming the
mother, father or co-parent of a child in accordance with another provision of
this Act, or any other Act or law.
Example—
An order may be made by the Court under Part 2B Division 3 of
this Act.
12—Amendment of
section 10EA—Court order relating to paternity
(1) Section 10EA(1)(c)(i)—delete "section 10D" and
substitute:
section 10C
(2) Section 10EA(1)(c)(ii)—delete "section 10E(2)" and
substitute:
section 10C(4)
(3) Section 10EA(6)(a)—after "State—" insert:
the person specified by the Court
Schedule
1—Transitional provision
Despite a provision of the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration
Act 1996, no liability attaches to a person for a failure to provide to
the Registrar particulars of the person who is the father or co-parent of a
child in the case where—
(a) the child was born before the commencement of this clause;
and
(b) the person is only taken to be father or co-parent of the child by
virtue of Part 2A of the Family Relationships Act 1975 (as
amended by this Act).