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CHALLENGES TO PATERNITY ORDERS IN OREGON -- STANDING AND GROUNDS
The Oregon Child Advocacy Project
Professor Leslie J. Harris, Molly Allen and Tehan Wittemyer
November 2006

Summary
Ordinarily parties to a judicial or administrative procedure that results in the establishment of legal paternity may not challenge the finding after the time for appeal has expired. Oregon statutes create limited exceptions to this rule. While res judicata would not bar a third party’s collateral attack on a paternity finding unless the party were in privity with one of the original parties, a court might bar an attack on policy grounds under some circumstances. In addition, a person who would otherwise have standing and grounds to challenge a paternity finding may be equitably estopped from doing so if he or she has made representations inconsistent with the challenge upon which another has relied.

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