Status of Children Act, 1987
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Failure to comply with direction on blood tests. |
42.—(1) Where a court gives a direction under section 38 of this Act and any person fails to take any step required of him for thepurpose of giving effect to the direction, the court may draw such inferences, if any, from that fact as appear proper in the circumstances. | |
(2) Where in proceedings on an application under section 35 of this Act a court gives a direction under section 38 of this Act for the taking of blood samples then, if any person named in the direction fails, within such period as may be specified by the court, to take any step required of him for the purpose of giving effect to the direction, the court may dismiss the application. | ||
(3) Where in any civil proceedings in which the parentage of any person falls to be determined by the court hearing those proceedings there is, by virtue of section 46 of this Act, a presumption of paternity relating to such person, then if— | ||
(a) a direction is given under section 38 of this Act in those proceedings, and | ||
(b) any party who is claiming any relief in the proceedings and who for the purpose of obtaining that relief is entitled to rely on the presumption fails to take any step required of him for the purpose of giving effect to the direction, | ||
the court may adjourn the hearing for such period as it thinks fit to enable that party to take that step, and if at the end of that period he has failed without reasonable cause to take it the court may, without prejudice to subsection (1) of this section, dismiss his claim for relief notwithstanding the absence of evidence to rebut the presumption. | ||
(4) Where any person named in a direction under section 38 of this Act fails to consent to the taking of a blood sample from himself or from any person named in the direction whom he has charge of or control over, he shall be deemed for the purposes of this section to have failed to take a step required of him for the purpose of giving effect to the direction. |