N.M. Stat. § 40-11A-102

Current through 2024, ch. 69

Section 40-11A-102 - Definitions

As used in the New Mexico Uniform Parentage Act:

A. "acknowledged father" means a man who has established a father-child relationship pursuant to Article 3 of the New Mexico Uniform Parentage Act;

B. "adjudicated father" means a man who has been adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction to be the father of a child;

C. "alleged father" means a man who alleges himself to be, or is alleged to be, the genetic father or a possible genetic father of a child, but whose paternity has not been determined. "Alleged father" does not include:

(1) a presumed father;

(2) a man whose parental rights have been terminated or declared not to exist; or

(3) a male donor;

D. "assisted reproduction" means a method of causing pregnancy other than sexual intercourse. "Assisted reproduction" includes:

(1) intrauterine insemination;

(2) donation of eggs;

(3) donation of embryos;

(4) in-vitro fertilization and transfer of embryos; and

(5) intracytoplasmic sperm injection;

E. "bureau" means the vital records and health statistics bureau of the department of health;

F. "child" means a person of any age whose parentage may be determined pursuant to the New Mexico Uniform Parentage Act;

G. "commence" means to file the initial pleading seeking an adjudication of parentage in district court;

H. "determination of parentage" means the establishment of the parent-child relationship by the signing of a valid acknowledgment of paternity pursuant to Article 3 of the New Mexico Uniform Parentage Act or adjudication by the court;

I. "donor" means a person who produces eggs or sperm used for assisted reproduction, whether or not for consideration. "Donor" does not include:

(1) a husband who provides sperm, or a wife who provides eggs, to be used for assisted reproduction by the wife;

(2) a woman who gives birth to a child by means of assisted reproduction; or

(3) a parent pursuant to Article 7 of the New Mexico Uniform Parentage Act;

J. "ethnic or racial group" means, for purposes of genetic testing, a recognized group that a person identifies as all or part of the person's ancestry or that is so identified by other information;

K. "genetic testing" means an analysis of genetic markers to exclude or identify a man as the father or a woman as the mother of a child. "Genetic testing" includes an analysis of one or a combination of the following:

(1) deoxyribonucleic acid; and

(2) blood-group antigens, red-cell antigens, human-leukocyte antigens, serum enzymes, serum proteins or red-cell enzymes;

L. "man" means a male person of any age;

M. "parent" means a person who has established a parent-child relationship pursuant to Section 2-201 of the New Mexico Uniform Parentage Act;

N. "parent-child relationship" means the legal relationship between a child and a parent of the child, including the mother-child relationship and the father-child relationship;

O. "paternity index" means the likelihood of paternity calculated by computing the ratio between:

(1) the likelihood that the tested man is the father, based on the genetic markers of the tested man, mother and child, conditioned on the hypothesis that the tested man is the father of the child; and

(2) the likelihood that the tested man is not the father, based on the genetic markers of the tested man, mother and child, conditioned on the hypothesis that the tested man is not the father of the child and that the father is of the same ethnic or racial group as the tested man;

P. "presumed father" means a man who, by operation of law pursuant to Section 2-204 of the New Mexico Uniform Parentage Act, is recognized as the father of a child until that status is rebutted or confirmed in a judicial proceeding;

Q. "probability of paternity" means the measure, for the ethnic or racial group to which the alleged father belongs, of the probability that the man in question is the father of the child, compared with a random, unrelated man of the same ethnic or racial group, expressed as a percentage incorporating the paternity index and a prior probability;

R. "record" means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form;

S. "signatory" means a person who signs or otherwise authenticates a record and is bound by its terms;

T. "state" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; and

U. "support-enforcement agency" means the human services department [health care authority department] designated pursuant to Section 27-2-27 NMSA 1978 as the single state agency for the enforcement of child and spousal support obligations pursuant to Title IV D of the federal Social Security Act and any other public official or agency authorized to seek:

(1) enforcement of support orders or laws relating to the duty of support;

(2) establishment or modification of child support;

(3) determination of parentage; or

(4) location of child-support obligors and their income and assets.

NMS § 40-11A-102

Laws 2009, ch. 215, § 1 -102.