In Utah, the Supreme Court decided that unwed fathers filing a paternity petition can have an extension to the current twenty four hour deadline if the baby is born on a weekend or holiday.

Currently Utah law states that the father of a child must file a petition claiming paternity to the child within twenty four hours of the child’s birth. Nikolas Thurnwald was trying to do this but a holiday did not allow him to file with in the twenty four hour deadline.

When his girlfriend (who was only identified by the initials A.E.) became unexpectedly pregnant, she and Nikolas made plans to parent the baby and even began buying a few baby items. But her family began to pressure her to place the baby for adoption. She went into labor early and gave birth on Saturday, September 4, 2004. Nikolas did not learn of the birth until an hour after. He immediately went to the hospital but was told that A.E. did not want to see him.

The birth fell on a Saturday. He could not file the petition on Sunday and then the courts were closed on Monday for Labor Day so the petition was filed on Tuesday, the first business day after the birth of the child. By this point, the mother had already relinquished custody of the child to an adoption agency.

At the hearing of the paternity petition, the courts ruled against Nikolas because he did not meet the twenty four hour deadline of filing the paternity petition.

Nikolas appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of Utah arguing that the legal deadline should be extended if it falls on a holiday or weekend.
In a 4-1 decision, the Supreme Court ruled in his favor stating that the deadline should be extended to the next business day if it falls on a weekend or holiday.

But it’s not over yet…..
Now the adoption agency is arguing that the nearly three year old child should remain with his adoptive parents as they are the only home he has known. So needless to say, there will be more battles as this custody battle is fought out in the courts.

Sources:
Utah Justices Modify Paternity Deadline
Adoption Agency against Giving Baby Back to Biological Father