State Ex Rel. Department of Social Services v. Wright

OPINION

FONES, Justice.

This direct appeal involves the constitutionality of establishing paternity pursuant to procedures set out in the Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement Support Act [URESA], T.C.A. §§ 36-5-201, et seq.

In May of 1986, the Department of Social Services for the County of St. Clair, Michigan, filed, on behalf of a minor child, a “Complaint to Adjudicate Paternity Under the Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act” against Ralph Eugene Wright, Jr. [respondent]. The complaint alleged that the child, Ava Marie Perza-nowski, lived with her mother, Yolanda C. Perzanowski, in St.…