Parentage

According to the current laws, the question of parentage can be clarified without difficulty in a private report, as long as all participants are in agreement. If one of those affected refuses to partake, however, then the sole remaining possibility is an Action for Avoidance (§§ 1600 ff. BGB [German Civil Code]). It is possible to clarify parentage within the scope of such a procedure – if it should, however, turn out that the legal entity is not the biological father, then it is inevitable that the legal ties between the father and the child will be rendered null and void.

It has not, therefore, been possible to clarify parentage in a legal procedure without having to fear judicial consequences for the legal relationship between the father and the child. With the draft legislation, the procedure for all participants – father, mother and child – should be made easier. On 21st February 2008, the German Federal Parliament passed the ‘Law for the Clarification of Fatherhood independently of the Contestation Procedure’. This allows for the genetic determination of from whom a child originates to take place independently of the contestation of fatherhood.

The question of from whom a child originates is of considerable importance to a family. The legal father is entitled to know whether he is also the biological father. The child is entitled to know who its parents are, and it is possible that the mother will also want clarification. As ruled by the German Constitutional Court on 13th February 2007, this clarification is also protected under constitutional law.