Code of Alabama

Ala. Code § 26-17-631 (2026)

Rules for Adjudication of Paternity.

✓ official Alabama Legislature (ALISON) text, current July 2026
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The court shall apply the following rules to adjudicate the paternity of a child:

(1) The paternity of a child having a presumed, acknowledged, or adjudicated father may be disproved only by admissible results of genetic testing excluding that man as the father of the child or identifying another man as the father of the child.

(2) Unless the results of genetic testing are admitted to rebut other results of genetic testing, a man identified as the father of a child under Section 26-17-505 must be adjudicated the father of the child.

(3) If the court finds that genetic testing under Section 26-17-505 neither identifies nor excludes a man as the father of a child, the results of genetic testing, and other evidence, are admissible to adjudicate the issue of paternity.

(4) Unless the results of genetic testing are admitted to rebut other results of genetic testing, a man excluded as the father of a child by genetic testing must be adjudicated not to be the father of the child.

(Act 2008-376, p. 666, §2.)

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 2 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 2024–2026 · leading case: Daniel Griffin Thomas v. Christopher Bruce Thomas, individually & as Pers. Rep. of the Est. of Ernest Bruce Thomas (Ala. 2026).
A.D.J. v. Mobile Cnty. Dep't of Human Resources (Appeal from Mobile Juv. Court: JU-21-1185.02). (Ala. Civ. App. 2024). · cites it 2× “See Ala. Code 1975, § 26-17-631(1). As explained above, under Alabama law, the father was the legal father of the child when the child was born in 2012 based on his marriage to the mother.”
Daniel Griffin Thomas v. Christopher Bruce Thomas, individually & as Pers. Rep. of the Est. of Ernest Bruce Thomas (Ala. 2026). · cites it 2× “Code [1975,] § 26-17-631[,] allows for the paternity of a child who has an adjudicated father to be disproved only by admissible results of genetic testing excluding that man as the father or identifying another man as the father.”
— Ala. Code § 26-17-631(1) — 1 case
A.D.J. v. Mobile Cnty. Dep't of Human Resources (Appeal from Mobile Juv. Court: JU-21-1185.02). (Ala. Civ. App. 2024). “See Ala. Code 1975, § 26-17-631(1). As explained above, under Alabama law, the father was the legal father of the child when the child was born in 2012 based on his marriage to the mother.”
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