Parentage Issues

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Commonwealth and State law sets out different circumstances when people are presumed to be parents of a child. This is referred to as “presumptions of parentage”, and is dealt with in provisions of the Family Law Act, and the Status of Children Act of each of the States and Territories.

Whether a presumption of parentage applies to you can have significant consequences in terms of whether you have parental responsibility for a child, or can seek or be compelled to contribute financial support for a child.

Parentage issues, and how to address them, become more complex where children are born as a result of IVF in some cases, and more so in the less common cases of surrogacy. This is a much specialised area of Family Law.

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