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Declaration of parentage.
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35.—(1) (a) A person (other than an adopted person) born in the State, or
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(b) any other person (other than an adopted person),
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may apply to the Court in such manner as may be prescribed for a declaration under this section that a person named in the application is his father or mother, as the case may be, or that both the persons so named are his parents.
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(2) An application may be made under subsection (1) of this section notwithstanding the fact that any person named in the application as the father or the mother or a parent, as the case may be, is not, or may not be, alive.
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(3) Where a person not born in the State makes an application for a declaration by virtue of subsection (1)(b) of this section, he shall specify in the application the reasons for seeking the declaration from the Court, and the Court shall refuse to hear or refuse to continue hearing, as the case may be, the application if at any stage it considers that there are no good and proper reasons for seeking the declaration.
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(4) Where a person makes an application for a declaration under this section by his next friend the Court shall refuse to hear or refuse to continue hearing, as the case may be, the application if at any stage the Court considers that it would be against the interests of the applicant to determine the application.
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(5) On an application under this section the Court may at any stage of the proceedings, of its own motion or on the application of any party to the proceedings, direct that all necessary papers in the matter be sent to the Attorney General.
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(6) Where on an application under this section the Attorney General requests to be made a party to the proceedings, the Court shall order that he shall be added as a party, and, whether or not he so requests, the Attorney General may argue before the Court any question in relation to the application which the Court considers necessary to have fully argued and take such other steps in relation thereto as he thinks necessary or expedient.
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(7) The Court may direct that notice of any application under this section shall be given in the prescribed manner to such other persons as the Court thinks fit and where notice is so given to any person theCourt may, either of its own motion or on the application of that person or any party to the proceedings, order that that person shall be added as a party to those proceedings.
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(8) Where on an application under this section it is proved on the balance of probabilities that—
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(a) a person named in the application is the father, or
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(b) a person so named is the mother, or
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(c) persons so named are the parents,
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of the applicant, the Court shall make the declaration accordingly.
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(9) Any declaration made under this section shall be in a form to be prescribed and shall be binding on the parties to the proceedings and any person claiming through a party to the proceedings, and where the Attorney General is made a party to the proceedings the declaration shall also be binding on the State.
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