High court probes whether statute bars courts from overruling voluntary paternity acknowledgments

The Supreme Judicial Court heard oral argument in SJC-13665 over whether Massachusetts law prevents a probate judge from setting aside a voluntary acknowledgment of parentage (VAP) more than a year after it is signed, counsel for the appellant said during argument.

The issue arose after a mother filed a complaint to establish paternity more than five years after her child's birth. David Cherny, attorney for the appellant, told the court that another man had signed a VAP under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 209C §11 and that the statute makes such acknowledgments "nonchallengeable" after the statutory time periods have expired. "This is a case that presents to the court what I see as the lower court's clear error in applying the law as it's written," Cherny said.

Why it matters: The question touches on competing policies—finality of paternity adjudications and the statutory safety valves that allow rescission within limited windows versus the biological father's interest and the child's potential interest in genetic relationship and retroactive support. Cherny told the justices the VAP could have been revoked within 60 days or…