In the Matter of the Paternity of Jrw and Kb, Minors. Dlb, Appellant (petitioner) v. Djb and the State of Wyoming…

Summary

The Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed dismissal of a presumed father's petition, brought under W.S. 14-2-104(a)(ii), to determine the nonexistence of the father-child relationship with two children the divorce decree found were born as issue of the marriage. The court held the petition was barred because it was not brought within a 'reasonable time' after knowledge of relevant facts (the five-year outer limit does not save a dilatory action), and by res judicata, collateral estoppel, and judicial estoppel arising from the paternity adjudication embedded in the divorce. It further held that the Parentage Act's mandatory procedures (genetic testing, guardian ad litem, informal hearing) govern initial contested paternity determinations but not disestablishment attempts after a prior consensual adjudication. Justice Cardine filed a special concurrence agreeing with the affirmance and the reasonable-time ground.