Equal Protection for Non-Marital Children

In, Lalli v. Lalli, the Court upheld a NY State law that mandates paternity be proven during the father’s lifetime. If paternity was not proven during the father's lifetime, the illegitimate children could take under intestacy. The court found illegitimate children to be a quasi-suspect class, like gender, and applied intermediate scrutiny. The Court ruled that intestate efficiency and combating fraud were important state interests and mandating paternity to be proven during the father's lifetime was substantially related to that interest.