Paternity Agreement

ARKANSAS ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF PATERNITY PREPARATION PACKET

Do not sign or file this packet as an AOP. Use the current Arkansas Acknowledgment of Paternity form and instructions supplied by an authorized state source.

Keep parentage separate from parenting terms. A valid acknowledgment has significant statutory effect, but this worksheet does not start child-support services, award custody or visitation, or create private enforcement remedies.

1. Select the Correct Parentage or Birth-Record Route

The Arkansas Office of Child Support Enforcement states that a mother and father may voluntarily sign an Acknowledgment of Paternity before the child turns eighteen. The correct procedure depends on marriage and the current birth record.

Agency-described routes:

☐ Ordinary AOP — parents were not married to one another from conception through birth and remain unmarried

☐ Three-way paternity affidavit — mother was married to another man, with mother, husband or former husband, and biological father participating

☐ Affidavit for correction — mother and biological father were married to one another and no father is listed

☐ Legitimation paperwork — unmarried at birth but mother and biological father later married

☐ Court order — another person is already listed, paternity is disputed, or the administrative route is unavailable

The Arkansas Department of Health states that changing a record generally requires a court order when another person's name is already listed. It also provides specific three-way, correction, and legitimation routes. Obtain the current written instructions before selecting one.

2. Parent and Child Information Worksheet

Transfer Social Security numbers and other protected identifiers directly to the current official form. Do not retain them in this worksheet when unnecessary or unsafe.

3. Obtain and Review the Current Official Forms

The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration states that AOP forms are available from:

• birthing hospitals;
• the Arkansas Department of Health; and
• any local Office of Child Support Enforcement.

The Department of Health also accepts requests to mail the appropriate form and instructions. Do not rely on the old template's unsupported “HS-15” form number or use a private affidavit.

Under Ark. Code Ann. § 20-18-408, the person responsible for birth-registration information must give qualifying unmarried parents an opportunity to complete an affidavit for filing with Vital Records and provide written information explaining the implications, parental rights, responsibilities, benefits of establishing paternity, and available services.

4. Voluntariness and Genetic-Testing Decision

Before signing, each proposed signer should confirm:

☐ I read and understand the complete current form, instructions, legal consequences, rights, responsibilities, and alternatives.

☐ I understand that signing is voluntary.

☐ I understand that a valid acknowledgment creates legal fatherhood and may support later support or visitation proceedings.

☐ I understand that signing does not automatically open an OCSE child-support case or create a custody or visitation order.

☐ I am certain the proposed father is the biological father and the selected route is correct.

☐ I am signing without fraud, duress, force, threat, coercion, or material mistake of fact.

☐ I had an opportunity to obtain independent Arkansas legal advice.

Testing status: ☐ Completed and reviewed ☐ Not requested because paternity is certain ☐ Requested — do not sign yet

Testing provider, report date, and result: [________________________________]

OCSE advises parents who are uncertain not to sign and recommends genetic testing. No blood or genetic test is required merely to use the voluntary AOP route when both parents are certain.

5. Execute the Correct Official Form

OCSE states that both parents must sign the AOP and have their signatures witnessed and notarized by a notary public. For the three-way route, the Department of Health instructs the mother and husband or former husband to sign the back, the mother and biological father to sign the front, and both sides to be notarized.

☐ Every required signer reviewed the complete form before signing.

☐ Names and birth information match identification and the birth record.

☐ Mother signed where required.

☐ Biological father signed where required.

☐ Husband or former husband signed the required section, if applicable.

☐ Every required signature was properly witnessed and notarized.

Arkansas Vital Records Rule 5.4 describes the acknowledgment supporting a new certificate as a sworn acknowledgment signed by both parents. Do not use this packet's signature lines, counterparts, or unsupported electronic signatures as a substitute.

6. File With Arkansas Vital Records and Track the Birth Record

Ark. Code Ann. § 9-10-120 provides that, upon submission of the acknowledgment to the Division of Vital Records, the State Registrar establishes a new or amended birth certificate reflecting the father's name. The Department of Health explains that route-specific paperwork and a birth-record amendment fee may apply.

OCSE states that parents of an Arkansas-born child may sign outside Arkansas before a notary and mail the AOP to the address on the form. There is no charge for signing the AOP, although Vital Records charges for amending a birth certificate.

7. Legal Effect; Support, Custody, and Visitation Remain Separate

Under Ark. Code Ann. § 9-10-120:

• the man is the child's father for all purposes when he and the mother execute a qualifying acknowledgment during the child's minority;
• the acknowledgment is a conclusive finding of paternity by operation of law, subject to § 9-10-115;
• it creates a parent-child relationship; and
• it supplies a basis for establishing and enforcing child support or visitation without another proceeding to establish paternity.

The AOP still does not calculate support, start OCSE services, or automatically grant custody or visitation. OCSE states that a custodial party must separately apply for child-support services or use an attorney, and that a father may use the AOP to ask a court to establish custody or visitation rights.

Do not attach private default clauses, cure periods, fee shifting, indemnity, damages caps, force majeure, arbitration, jury waivers, automatic custody changes, tax allocations, or support terms to the AOP as though they were part of the statutory acknowledgment or a court order.

8. Rescission During the Statutory Period

Ark. Code Ann. § 9-10-115(c) permits either signatory to rescind by completing the official form and filing it with Vital Records before the earlier of:

• the date an administrative or judicial proceeding, including a support proceeding, is held relating to the child and involving that signer as a party; or
• sixty days after execution of the AOP.

The current Department of Health-linked rescission form is VR 25, Rescission of Acknowledgment of Paternity. Its instructions require the rescinding parent to complete the form, sign before a notary, and file it with Arkansas Department of Health Vital Records. The form lists a $15 fee and instructs the filer to send a copy to OCSE. Current OCSE guidance measures the sixty days from the last notarized AOP signature; because the statute and form use execution or signer language, calculate every potentially relevant date and obtain immediate advice when signatures occurred on different dates.

Do not use a private cancellation letter or the signatures below as a substitute for VR 25.

9. Challenge or Testing After the Rescission Period

After the rescission cutoff, § 9-10-115(d) permits a challenge to an AOP-based paternity establishment only upon an allegation of fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact. The challenger bears the burden of proof.

Section 9-10-115(e) also provides a specialized court-testing route when a man was adjudicated or deemed the father through an acknowledgment without scientific testing and was ordered to pay support. He may seek one paternity test during the period he must pay support, but an AOP-based motion must comply with the fraud, duress, or material-mistake requirement. Support and other legal obligations continue while the motion is pending unless the court finds and states good cause.

If testing excludes the man and the court so finds, § 9-10-115(f) directs the court to set aside paternity, end future support, vacate unpaid support under the prior order, leave previously paid support nonrefundable, and order deletion of his name from the birth certificate when applicable.

This packet is not a motion to challenge or disestablish paternity. OCSE does not provide disestablishment services. Obtain immediate Arkansas legal review.

10. Preparation Acknowledgment

The signatures below confirm only that the participants reviewed this preparation packet. They do not acknowledge, rescind, establish, or disestablish paternity and do not create custody, visitation, or support orders.

Sources and References

• Arkansas Act 1091 of 1995 — original § 9-10-120 and related provisions
• Arkansas Act 1296 of 1997, § 9 — amendments to § 9-10-120
• Arkansas Act 1736 of 2001 — § 9-10-115 rescission, challenge, and testing
• Arkansas Act 60 of 2007 — current § 9-10-115(f) relief
• Arkansas Act 1254 of 1995, § 22 — § 20-18-408 notice requirements
• Arkansas DFA/OCSE — Paternity
• Arkansas Department of Health — Add or Remove Father's Name from Birth Record
• Arkansas Department of Health — VR 25 Rescission of Acknowledgment of Paternity
• Arkansas State Board of Health — 2022 Vital Records Rule