Section 8-102 - DefinitionsIn this chapter:
(1) "Acknowledged father" means a man who has established a father-child relationship under subchapter III of this chapter.(2) "Adjudicated father" means a man who has been adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction to be the father of a child.(3) "Alleged father" means a man who alleges himself to be, or is alleged to be, the genetic father or a possible genetic father of a child, but whose paternity has not been determined. The term does not include: (ii) A man whose parental rights have been terminated or declared not to exist; or(4) "Assisted reproduction" means a method of causing pregnancy other than sexual intercourse. The term includes, but is not limited to:(iii) Donation of embryos;(iv) In-vitro fertilization and transfer of embryos; and(v) Intracytoplasmic sperm injection.(5) "Child" means an individual of any age whose parentage may be determined under this chapter.(6) "Commence" means to file the initial pleading seeking an adjudication of parentage in the Family Court of the State of Delaware.(7) "Compensation" means payment of any valuable consideration for services in addition to payment for reasonable medical and ancillary costs.(8) "Determination of parentage" means the establishment of the parent-child relationship by the signing of a valid acknowledgment of paternity under subchapter III of this chapter or adjudication by the court.(9) "Donor" means an individual who produces eggs or sperm, or who provides embryos used for assisted reproduction, whether or not for consideration. The term does not include:(i) A husband who provides sperm, or a wife who provides eggs, to be used for assisted reproduction by the wife;(ii) A woman who gives birth to a child by means of assisted reproduction, or(iii) A parent under subchapter VII of this chapter.(10) "Embryo transfer" means all medical and laboratory procedures that are necessary to effectuate the transfer of an embryo in the uterine cavity.(11) "Ethnic or racial group" means, for purposes of genetic testing, a recognized group that an individual identifies as all or part of the individual's ancestry or that is so identified by other information.(12) "Gamete" means either a human egg or sperm.(13) "Genetic testing," means an analysis of genetic markers to exclude or identify a man as the father or a woman as the mother of a child. The term includes an analysis of 1 or a combination of the following: (i) Deoxyribonucleic acid; and(ii) Blood-group antigens, red-cell antigens, human-leukocyte antigens, serum enzymes, serum proteins or red-cell enzymes.(14) "Gestational carrier" means a woman who is neither an intended parent nor a donor, who agrees to become pregnant for an intended parent by assisted reproduction with the intention of gestating and delivering the intended parent's child.(15) "Gestational carrier agreement" means a written agreement between the gestational carrier, her spouse or partner, if any, and the intended parent, pursuant to which the intended parent agrees to become the parent of the child resulting from the assisted reproduction.(16) "Gestational carrier arrangement" means the process by which a woman attempts to carry and give birth to a child created through assisted reproduction using the gamete(s) provided by the intended parents which may or may not be genetically related to either of the intended parents, and to which the gestational carrier has made no genetic contribution.(17) "Health care provider" means a person who is duly licensed to provide health care, including all medical, psychological, or counseling professionals.(18) "Intended parent" means a person or persons who enters into a gestational carrier agreement with a gestational carrier to become a parent of any resulting child. In the case of a married couple, any reference to an intended parent shall include both spouses for all purposes of this chapter. This term shall include the intended mother(s), intended father(s), or both.(19) "In vitro fertilization" means all medical and laboratory procedures that are necessary to effectuate the extracorporeal fertilization of egg and sperm.(20) "Man" means a male individual of any age.(21) "Married couple" includes two people who are parties to a civil union.(22) "Parent" means an individual who has established a parent-child relationship under § 8-201 of this title.(23) "Parent-child relationship" means the legal relationship between a child and a parent of the child. The term includes the mother-child relationship and the father-child relationship.(24) "Paternity index" means the likelihood of paternity calculated by computing the ratio between:(i) The likelihood that the tested man is the father, based on the genetic markers of the tested man, mother, and child, conditioned on the hypothesis that the tested man is the father of the child; and(ii) The likelihood that the tested man is not the father, based on the genetic markers of the tested man, mother, and child, conditioned on the hypothesis that the tested man is not the father of the child and that the father is of the same ethnic or racial group as the tested man.(25) "Physician" means a person licensed to practice medicine in any or all of its branches in Delaware.(26) "Presumed father" means a man who, by operation of law under § 8-204 of this title, is recognized as the father of a child until that status is rebutted or confirmed in a judicial proceeding.(27) "Probability of paternity" means the measure, for the ethnic or racial group to which the alleged father belongs, of the probability that the man in question is the father of the child, compared with a random, unrelated man of the same ethnic or racial group, expressed as a percentage incorporating the paternity index and a prior probability.(28) "Record" means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.(29) "Signatory" means an individual who authenticates a record and is bound by its terms.(30) "State" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.(31) "Support-enforcement agency" means a public official or agency authorized to seek:(i) Enforcement of support orders or laws relating to the duty of support;(ii) Establishment or modification of child support;(iii) Determination of parentage; or(iv) Location of child-support obligors and their income and assets.Amended by Laws 2013, ch. 88,s 1, eff. 7/3/2013.74 Del. Laws, c. 136, § 1; 70 Del. Laws, c. 186, § 1.;