Colo. Rev. Stat. § 14-5-402
A tribunal of this state authorized to determine parentage of a child may serve as a responding tribunal in a proceeding to determine parentage of a child brought under this article or a law or procedure substantially similar to this article.
C.R.S. § 14-5-402
COMMENT
This article authorizes a "pure" parentage action in the interstate context, i.e., an action not joined with a claim for support. The mother, an alleged father of a child, or a support enforcement agency may bring such an action. Typically an action to determine parentage across a state line or international border will also seek to establish a support order. See Section 401. An action to establish parentage under UIFSA is to be treated identically to such an action brought in the responding state.
In a departure from the rest of this act, in UIFSA (2001) the term "tribunal" was replaced by "court" in this section. The several states have a variety of combinations of judicial or administrative entities that are authorized to establish, enforce, and modify a child-support order. Because the Uniform Parentage Act (UPA) (2000) § 104 restricts parentage determinations to "a court," see UPA (2000) § 104, the drafters took the view that only a judicial officer should determine parentage as a matter of public policy. This conclusion was in error insofar as some states are concerned and is reversed in this iteration of the act.
Related to Convention: art. 2. Scope; art. 6. Specific functions of Central Authorities; art. 10. Available applications.