What is paternity testing Australia law? Paternity tests or DNA
testing can be performed under the Family Law Act (1975). It is
performed for a number of legal issues involving the Family Court
of Australia. As opposed to a prenatal paternity test, a paternity
test is taken after a child is born. In this article we explore
paternity tests in Australia law.
Notably, in the absence of any conclusive DNA testing, there is
a presumption of parentage that is applicable. For example,
according to Section 69R of the FLA, a person is presumed
to be the parent of a child if his/her name appears on the
child's birth certificate. Read more about presumption of
parentage here.
To begin with, under Section 69W of the Family Law
Act, the court can make a parentage testing
order. The court makes court-ordered paternity tests
if they see it fit to do so. Alternatively, the court makes these
orders if another party makes an application for such orders.
