Title 53, Chapter 2, Section 3
( 53-2-3)
The rights of inheritance of a child born out of wedlock shall be as
follows: (1) A child born out of wedlock may inherit in the same manner as
though legitimate from or through the child's mother, the other
children of the mother, and any other maternal kin; (2)(A) A child born out of wedlock may not inherit from or
through the child's father, the other children of the father, or
any paternal kin by reason of the paternal kinship, unless: (i) A court of competent jurisdiction has entered an order declaring the child to be legitimate, under the authority of Code Section 19-7-22 or such other authority as may be provided by law; (ii) A court of competent jurisdiction has otherwise entered a
court order establishing paternity; (iii) The father has executed a sworn statement signed by him
attesting to the parent-child relationship; (iv) The father has signed the birth certificate of the child;
or (v) There is other clear and convincing evidence that the
child is the child of the father. (B)(i) Subparagraph (A) of this paragraph notwithstanding, a
child born out of wedlock may inherit from or through the
father, other children of the father, or any paternal kin by
reason of the paternal kinship if evidence of the rebuttable
presumption of paternity described in this subparagraph is
filed with the court before which proceedings on the estate
are pending and the presumption is not overcome to the
satisfaction of the trier of fact by clear and convincing
evidence. (ii) There shall exist a rebuttable presumption of paternity
of a child born out of wedlock if parentage-determination
genetic testing establishes at least a 97 percent probability
of paternity. Parentage-determination genetic testing shall
include, but not be limited to, red cell antigen, human
leucocyte antigen (HLA), red cell enzyme, and serum protein
electrophoresis tests or testing by deoxyribonucleic acid
(DNA) probes. (C) If any one of the requirements of divisions (i) through (v)
of subparagraph (A) of this paragraph is fulfilled, or if the
presumption of paternity set forth in subparagraph (B) of this
paragraph shall have been established and shall not have been
rebutted by clear and convincing evidence, a child born out of
wedlock may inherit in the same manner as though legitimate from
and through the child's father, the other children of his or her
father, and any other paternal kin; (3) In distributions under this Code section, the children of a
deceased child born out of wedlock shall represent that deceased
child. |