In this chapter:

(1) “Acknowledged father” means a man who has established a father-child relationship under Article 3.
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Terms Used In Alabama Code 26-17-102

  • Donor: The person who makes a gift.
  • following: means next after. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
  • United States: includes the territories thereof and the District of Columbia. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
(2) “Adjudicated father” means a man who has been adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction to be the father of a child.
(3) “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. The term does not include:

(A) a presumed father;
(B) a man whose parental rights have been terminated or declared not to exist; or
(C) a male donor who donates in compliance with Section 26-17-702.
(4) “Assisted reproduction” means a method of causing pregnancy other than sexual intercourse. The term includes:

(A) intrauterine insemination;
(B) donation of eggs;
(C) donation of embryos;
(D) in-vitro fertilization and transfer of embryos; and
(E) intracytoplasmic sperm injection.
(5) “Child” means an individual of any age whose parentage may be determined under this chapter.
(6) “Commence” means to file the initial pleading seeking an adjudication of parentage in the appropriate court of this state.
(7) “Determination of parentage” means the establishment of the parent-child relationship by the execution of a valid acknowledgment of paternity under Article 3 or adjudication by the court.
(8) “Donor” means an individual who produces eggs or sperm used for assisted reproduction, whether or not for consideration. The term does not include:

(A) a husband who provides sperm, or a wife who provides eggs, to be used for assisted reproduction by the wife;
(B) a woman who gives birth to a child by means of assisted reproduction; or
(C) a parent under Article 7.
(9) “Ethnic or racial group” means, for purposes of genetic testing, a recognized group that an individual identifies as all or part of the individual’s ancestry or that is so identified by other information.
(10) “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. The term includes an analysis of one or a combination of the following:

(A) deoxyribonucleic acid; and
(B) blood-group antigens, red-cell antigens, human-leukocyte antigens, serum enzymes, serum proteins, or red-cell enzymes.
(11) “Gestational mother” means a woman who gives birth to a child.
(12) “Intended parents” means husbands and wives who enter into an agreement providing that they will be the parents of a child born to a gestational mother by means of assisted reproduction, whether or not either of them has a genetic relationship with the child.
(13) “Man” means a male individual of any age.
(14) “Parent” means an individual who has established a parent-child relationship under Section 26-17-201.
(15) “Parent-child relationship” means the legal relationship between a child and a parent of the child. The term includes the mother-child relationship and the father-child relationship.
(16) “Paternity index” means the likelihood of paternity calculated by computing the ratio between:

(A) the likelihood that the tested man is the father, based on the genetic markers of the tested man, mother, and child, or the tested man and child, conditioned on the hypothesis that the tested man is the father of the child; and
(B) the likelihood that the tested man is not the father, based on the genetic markers of the tested man, mother, and child, or the tested man 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.
(17) “Presumed father” means a man who, by operation of law under Section 26-17-204, is recognized as the father of a child until that status is rebutted or confirmed in a judicial proceeding.
(18) “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.
(19) “Putative father” means the alleged or reputed father.
(20) “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.
(21) “Signatory” means an individual who authenticates a record and is bound by its terms.
(22) “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.
(23) “Support-enforcement agency” means the Alabama Department of Human Resources.
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