Proceedings under this chapter may be instituted upon petition, verified by oath or affirmation, filed by a child, a parent, a person claiming parentage, a person standing in loco parentis to the child or having legal custody of the child or a representative of the Department of Social Services or the Department of Juvenile Justice.
The child may be made a party to the action, and if he is a minor and is made a party, he shall be represented by a guardian ad litem appointed by the court in accordance with the procedures specified in § 16.1-266 or § 8.01-9. The child's mother or father may not represent the child as guardian or otherwise. The determination of the court under the provisions of this chapter shall not be binding on any person who is not a party.
The circuit courts shall have concurrent original jurisdiction of cases arising under this chapter with the juvenile and domestic relations district courts when the parentage of a child is at issue in any matter otherwise before the circuit court. The determination of parentage, when raised in any proceeding under this chapter, shall be governed by this chapter.
1988, cc. 866, 878; 1989, c. 368; 2008, cc. 164, 201; 2026, c. 369.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
17
cases, 1989–2019 · leading case:
Breit v. Mason, 718 S.E.2d 482 (Va. Ct. App. 2011).
Breit v. Mason, 718 S.E.2d 482 (Va. Ct. App. 2011).
· cites it 16× “On November 15, 2010, pursuant to Code § 20-49.2, Breit filed a Petition to Determine Parentage and Establish Custody and Visitation (“Petition to Determine Parentage”) in the trial court, naming mother and L.”
Com., Dept. of Soc. Servs. v. Johnson, 376 S.E.2d 787 (Va. Ct. App. 1989).
· cites it 8× “Code § 20-64 (now see Code § 20-49.2). 2 While Code § 20-64 authorized a mother to initiate proceedings to adjudicate paternity of the father and to obtain child support from the father pursuant to the provisions of § 20-61.”
Wyatt v. McDermott, 725 S.E.2d 555 (Va. 2012).
· cites it 2× “1 (how parent and child relationship established); Code § 20-49.2 et seq. (proceedings to determine parentage or establish paternity); Code § 20-124.”
Verrocchio v. Verrocchio, 429 S.E.2d 482 (Va. Ct. App. 1993).
· cites it 2× “[and][t]he child’s mother or father may not represent the child as guardian or otherwise”); Code § 16.1-266(A) (requiring the juvenile and domestic relations district court to appoint a guardian ad litem to represent a child who is the subject of an abuse or neglect hearing, the…”
Doe v. Doe, 421 S.E.2d 913 (Va. Ct. App. 1992).
· cites it 5× “8, Proceedings to Determine Parentage],” and empowers circuit courts with “concurrent original jurisdiction of cases arising under this chapter.”
Dunbar v. Hogan, 432 S.E.2d 16 (Va. Ct. App. 1993).
· cites it 2× “” Code § 20-49.2. Proceedings to determine parentage under Chapter 3.”
Mark Anthony Graves v. Commonwealth (Va. Ct. App. 2007).
· cites it 8× “Code § 20-49.2 specifically states as follows: “The circuit courts and the juvenile and domestic relations district courts shall have concurrent original jurisdiction of cases arising under this chapter.”
L.F. v. Breit (Va. 2013).
· cites it 4× “In November 2010, pursuant to Code § 20-49.2, Breit filed a petition to determine parentage and establish custody and visitation (“petition to determine parentage”) in the Circuit Court of the City of Virginia Beach, naming Mason and L.”
Sherrie Morgan v. Renee Kifus & David Chowaniec (Va. Ct. App. 2011).
· cites it 4× “1 In June 2009, Morgan filed a petition for determination of paternity and declaratory relief, pursuant to Code § 20-49.2 2 and Code § 8.01-184 (Declaratory Judgment Act) naming Kifus, Chowaniec, and P.”
In re Cooper-Loney, 56 Va. Cir. 67 (Richmond County Cir. Ct. 2001).
· cites it 4× “Since they have been made, he is entitled to proceed with this action under Va. Code § 20-49.2. At the March 2 hearing, Loney’s counsel also asked the court to order genetic tests.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.