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NC General Statutes

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 8-57.2 (2026)

Presumed father or mother as witnesses where paternity at issue

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Whenever an issue of paternity of a child born or conceived during a marriage arises in any civil or criminal proceeding, the presumed father or the mother of such child is competent to give evidence as to any relevant matter regarding paternity of the child, including nonaccess to the present or former spouse, regardless of any privilege which may otherwise apply. No parent offering such evidence shall thereafter be prosecuted based upon that evidence for any criminal act involved in the conception of the child whose paternity is in issue and/or for whom support is sought, except for perjury committed in this testimony. (1981, c. 634, s. 1.)

 

§ 8-58: Repealed by Session Laws 1973, c. 1286, ss. 11, 26.

 

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 5 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1981–2023 · leading case: State v. Holmes, 412 S.E.2d 660 (N.C. 1992).
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State v. Holmes, 412 S.E.2d 660 (N.C. 1992). · cites it 4× “If, as the State suggests, section 8-57 abolished the husband-wife privilege against disclosure of confidential communications made by one to the other during their marriage, section 8-57.”
Settle by & Through Sullivan v. Beasley, 308 S.E.2d 288 (N.C. 1983). · cites it 2× “G.S. 8-57.2 has been amended to allow both plaintiff's mother and presumed father, Frank Settle, to testify as to the paternity of plaintiff.”
Carpenter v. Hawley, 281 S.E.2d 783 (N.C. Ct. App. 1981). “The record shows that Fester Creech, the assistant chief of police of Pine Level, North Carolina, and an employee of the local propane gas company, testified that for at least one year prior to the birth of Shauna, Vinez Tinsley and Robert F.”
Wake Cnty. Ex Rel. Manning v. Green, 279 S.E.2d 901 (N.C. Ct. App. 1981). “G.S. 8-57.2 (effective 1 October 1981). We conclude that there is no justification for a rule which excludes the best evidence of access or nonaccess and therefore tends to absolve the rightful father of his duty of support.”
State v. Spera, 891 S.E.2d 637 (N.C. Ct. App. 2023). · cites it 2× “See N.C. Gen. Stat. § 8-57.2 (2021) (abrogating the common law rule discussed in Aldridge and explicitly authorizing the mother in any action involving paternity of a child born during a marriage to testify to nonaccess); N.”
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