Amends TCA Title 36 and Title 39.

This bill creates a new Class A misdemeanor offense of parentage fraud for a person who does the following:<br /> <br /> (1) Seeks to legally establish the individual as the biological parent of a child in the person's custody with intent to deprive the individual of property, or to prevent the child's actual biological parent from exercising parental rights to the child; and the person knows or reasonably should know that the individual is not the child's biological parent; or<br /> <br /> (2) Seeks to be legally established as a child's parent based on the person's status as a biological parent of the child; and the person knows or reasonably should know that the person is not the child's biological parent.<br /> <br /> However, the provisions above do not apply in the following situations:<br /> <br /> (1) When the child involved was conceived as a result of an act that would be aggravated rape; rape; rape of a child; especially aggravated rape; or especially aggravated rape of a child;<br /> <br /> (2) When the child involved has been, or is, in the process of being adopted; or<br /> <br /> (3) When the victim of the offense was the defendant's spouse at the time of the offense.<br /> <br /> ON MARCH 20, 2023, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 331, AS AMENDED.<br /> <br /> AMENDMENT #1 clarifies that parentage fraud occurs when the individual that a person seeks to legally establish as the biological parent of a child in the person’s custody with intent to deprive the individual of property and the person knows or reasonably should know that the individual is not the child’s biological parent is "another individual".<br /> <br /> This amendment also reduces the classification of parentage fraud from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class B misdemeanor. <br />