The long-awaited Massachusetts Parentage Act (MPA) has gone into effect as of January 1, 2025, thereby, updating the state’s parentage laws for the first time in 40 years to make them more inclusive. While the MPA is a comprehensive law, the following are some key points.

The MPA, not only expands the definition of “family” in Massachusetts but it also eliminates some of the legal hurdles that non-biological parents faced. It also protects families formed through assisted reproduction, “de facto” parents, and LGBTQ families. In addition, it provides that parentage can be established in the following ways:

• Giving birth (except for people acting as surrogates)
• Adoption
• Acknowledgment via a Voluntary Acknowledgment of Parentage
• Presumption (including the marital and non-marital presumption)
• Genetic connection (except for sperm or egg donors)
• Adjudication through a surrogacy agreement
• Intended parentage through assisted reproduction
• De facto parentage

For families created through surrogacy, the MPA provides a clear legal framework that protects the rights and responsibilities of all parties involved, including the intended parents and the surrogate. This new framework ensures that intended parents are recognized as the legal parents from the moment of birth.

The MPA also codifies previous case law, such as to ensure a higher and clearer standard to adjudicate a de facto parent. To be adjudicated as a de facto parent, one must demonstrate:

1. They resided with the child as a regular member of the child’s household for not less than 3 years or 40 per cent of the child’s life whichever is shorter, provide that the period is not less than 2 years. Shorter periods may be accepted in extraordinary circumstances
2. They engaged in consistent caregiving of the child, including, but not limited to, shaping the child’s daily routine, addressing the child’s developmental needs, and providing for the child’s education and medical care, individually or cooperatively with another parent.
3. They undertook full and permanent responsibilities of a parent of the child without expectation or payment of financial compensation.
4. They held out the child as their child, by their actions and words.
5. They established a bonded and dependent relationship with the child that is parental in nature.
6. Each parent of the child consented to the bonded and dependent relationship by their actions and words.
7. Adjudication would be in the best interest of the child. In making this determination, the court shall consider evidence of past or present abuse.

Furthermore, the MPA now authorizes a court to enter a temporary order allowing for contact between the presumptive de facto parent and the child. Prior to the MPA this was only a remedy for married and unmarried parents.

New and revised Probate and Family Court parentage forms can be found here. However, these forms will not go into effect until sometime in April 2025.

To learn more, or if you have any questions, please reach out to your Sassoon Cymrot Law, LLC Attorney or you can contact our Family Law Department.