WHAT CAN I DO IN SPAIN TO HAVE MY NON-MARRIAGE CHILD’S FATHER ACKNOWLEDGE HIS PATERNITY?

08 Mar WHAT CAN I DO IN SPAIN TO HAVE MY NON-MARRIAGE CHILD’S FATHER ACKNOWLEDGE HIS PATERNITY?

In Spain, the recognition of paternity for legal purposes, together with the measures that once the recognition is obtained it brings with it (Registration of surnames, Registration in the Civil Registry, succession order, etc.), could be done by the father on a voluntary explicit recognition made in the official civil registry in which the descendant is registered, or by written deed that the father grants before any notary, or in his last will.   In the absence of this, the declaration of affiliation for all legal purposes is obtained through a judicial procedure that the child can promote (the mother could also do so, especially being the child too young). The claim is filed in the Court of the place of the domicile of the father, since if it is presented at the place of the domicile of the child or the mother, the father may legally claim his own territorial jurisdiction if it is different, in accordance with the rules of the Law on Civil prosecution, if such a thing is not directly done by the judge inhibiting and rejecting his territorial jurisdiction.

In case the father does not live in Spain things get more complicated, since then the jurisdiction of the foreign court will be the one that in principle governs, and the claim would have to be filed there, with the consequent delay that these cases and situations suffer inherent in the difference in systems and jurisdictions and their operation.

For a lawsuit made in Spanish national territory, it would be necessary to have and provide a principle of proof, understood in a broad sense. That is, any data that substantiates this initial application, without a full proof being mandatory. In fact, the case-law of the Supreme Court states that the principle of proof required for the admission of the application, should not be confused with that which must be carried out later during the proceedings. Our case law indicates that we must not forget the fundamental right to effective judicial protection Article 24 of the Spanish Constitution, neither the protection of the principle of equality of children irrespective of their affiliation nor the right to paternity research of article 39.2 of the Constitution

Examples of this initial principle of proof could be documents, letters, witnesses of knowledge that found the fact that the mother had sex with the father at the time of conception, tacit recognitions made by the father in showable circumstances, etc., etc., etc. or also what is called state possession, which is the notorious and relevant appearance that the unrecognized child would have had regarding being a descendant of the parent at the social or public environment, having been treated by the parent or their immediate environment for certain purposes as such a descendant (explained in a summary way). The application or proposal for biological test (DNA analysis, etc.), would then come after the application has been admitted to process.