Maternity
The mother of a child is considered to be the woman who gave birth to the child and who is registered as such in the birth registry. When a woman claims to be the mother of a child but this is not reflected in the facts recorded in the birth registry, she may initiate a court proceeding to establish her maternity. The right to request the establishment of maternity belongs to the child and to the woman who claims to be the mother of the child. In such a case, the same lawsuit will seek to establish maternity in favor of the woman claiming maternity and dispute the maternity of the woman registered as the mother in the birth registry.
In some cases, disputing maternity is not permitted (for example, after the adoption of the child, after the death of the child, or if there is a final court decision establishing maternity of the woman registered as the mother in the birth registry).
Paternity
The father of a child born within marriage is considered to be the husband of the child’s mother. The father of a child born within 300 days after the termination of the marriage is considered to be the husband from that marriage if the marriage ended by the husband’s death and the mother has not remarried within that period. The father of a child born in a new marriage is considered to be the husband of the mother from that marriage. The father of a child born out of wedlock is considered to be the man whose paternity is established by acknowledgment or by a final court judgment. If paternity cannot be established by an out-of-court acknowledgment, it is possible to initiate a corresponding court procedure by filing a lawsuit to establish paternity. The right to file this lawsuit belongs to the child, the mother, and the man claiming to be the father of the child.
On the other hand, the paternity of the man registered in the birth registry as the father of the child can be disputed. The right to dispute paternity belongs to the child, the mother, the husband of the mother, and the man claiming to be the father of the child if he also requests the establishment of his paternity in the same lawsuit. In some cases, disputing paternity is not permitted (after the adoption of the child, after the death of the child, in the case of a final court decision establishing the paternity of the man registered as the father in the birth registry, or if the lawsuit is filed by a person who previously agreed to the acknowledgment of paternity).
Procedure
These so-called maternity and paternity disputes are initiated by filing a lawsuit within legally prescribed deadlines. There is a subjective deadline of one year starting from the knowledge of relevant facts, and an objective deadline of 10 years from the child’s birth. Only the child may file this lawsuit regardless of deadlines. The right to file a lawsuit in disputes concerning maternity and paternity does not pass to heirs. The heirs of the plaintiff may continue an already initiated procedure to establish that there was a basis for establishing or disputing maternity or paternity, or to annul acknowledgment of paternity. The guardian of a minor or legally incapacitated plaintiff may file a lawsuit in maternity or paternity disputes only with prior consent from the guardianship authority. The court is obliged to decide on parental rights by judgment in disputes concerning maternity and paternity.