Court of Appeals hears dispute over Mexican birth certificate, parentage and termination of parental rights

The Utah Court of Appeals heard oral argument in a contested parentage and termination case focused on whether a Mexican birth certificate should be treated as proof of parentage in Utah proceedings and whether the juvenile court properly terminated parental rights.

Appellants' counsel Alexander Marshall opened by saying the case "tests the limits of the Utah code" and urged the panel to reverse on two principal grounds: that there were no statutory grounds to terminate the birth mother's rights and that the juvenile court should have recognized MC as the child's legal father because an authenticated Mexican birth certificate lists him as father.

Marshall told the panel that failing to credit a foreign birth certificate leaves a legal gap for families who obtain foreign documentation: "it creates this absurd situation where there's no mechanism to recognize a foreign birth certificate," he said. He urged the court to interpret Utah law — at a minimum — to allow a Mexican birth certificate that, under Mexican law, confers custodial…