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FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS ACT 1975 - SECT 10EA

FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS ACT 1975 - SECT 10EA

10EA—Court order relating to paternity

        (1)         This section applies to a child if—

            (a)         the child is domiciled in this State; and

            (b)         the child was conceived as a result of a fertilisation procedure carried out in this State; and

            (c)         1 or more of the following applies:

                  (i)         the paternity of the child is not able to be determined by the operation of section 10C;

                  (ii)         the operation of section 10C(4) does not reflect the wishes of both the provider of the sperm used for the purposes of the fertility procedure (the "sperm provider") and the mother of the child;

                  (iii)         the fertility procedure was carried out in any other circumstances brought within the ambit of this paragraph by the regulations.

        (2)         The Court may, in relation to a child to which this section applies and on the application of the sperm provider in respect of the child, make an order under this section.

        (3)         However, the Court must not make an order under this section unless satisfied that both the mother and the sperm provider freely, and with a full understanding of what is involved, agree to the making of the order.

        (4)         The Court must, in deciding whether to make an order under this section, regard the welfare of the child as the paramount consideration.

        (5)         In deciding whether to make an order under this section, the Court may take into account anything it considers relevant.

        (6)         If the Court makes an order under this section, the effect of the order will be as follows:

            (a)         for the purposes of the law of the State, the person specified by the Court

                  (i)         will be conclusively presumed to have caused the pregnancy; and

                  (ii)         will be taken to be the father of any child born as a result of the pregnancy;

            (b)         the relationships of all other persons to the child will be determined according to the operation and effect of paragraph (a).

        (7)         If the Court makes an order under this section, the Court may make any other ancillary order the Court thinks fit.

        (7a)         This section does not apply in relation to a child born as a result of a lawful surrogacy agreement under the Surrogacy Act 2019 (whether or not an order under section 18 of that Act has been, or could be, made in respect of the parentage of the child).

        (8)         In this section—

"Court" means the Youth Court of South Australia constituted of the Judge of the Court or a magistrate.