HB 384 Summary

• Enacts the Uniform Parentage Act of 2017 to replace Hawaii's 1973 Uniform Parentage Act, establishing modern procedures for determining parent-child relationships and support obligations.

• Establishes multiple methods to determine parentage including marriage presumptions, voluntary acknowledgment, genetic testing, and judicial adjudication, with specific timelines and procedures for each method.

• Creates the "de facto parent" category allowing individuals who have acted as parents (residing with child, providing care, holding out child as their own) to seek legal recognition under clear and convincing evidence standards.

• Permits courts to adjudicate up to three or more parents if failure to recognize multiple parents would be detrimental to the child, significantly expanding from traditional two-parent frameworks.

• Allows voluntary parentage acknowledgment at birthing facilities with a 60-day rescission period, after which acknowledgments can only be challenged on grounds of fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact.