According to statistical information of the last five years, every fifth child is born out of wedlock. In this context, we draw parents’ attention to the manner and conditions of establishing paternity over the child.
Paternity over the child can be recognized by the father with the mother’s consent, based on a joint declaration, which is submitted both at the time of registration of the child’s birth and after the birth registration.
The statement regarding the establishment of paternity can be submitted:
- at the Civil Status Service in the territorial competence of which the child’s parents are domiciled or where the birth certificate is registered in the name of the child whose paternity is to be recognized;
- at the town hall of the locality at the time of birth registration only;
- at diplomatic missions and consular offices of the Republic of Moldova at the time of birth registration or only for registration and authentication for declarants who are abroad.
Recognition of paternity is a personal act and cannot be exercised by a third person. Therefore, if there is no possibility for one of the parents to come to the territorial civil status service, municipality/village town hall respectively, to submit the statement regarding the establishment of the child’s paternity, the statement of the parents must be authenticated by a notary or, as the case may be, by the consular office/diplomatic mission of the Republic of Moldova accredited abroad.
In the absence of the parents’ mutual agreement regarding the establishment of the paternity over the child, the establishment of paternity can take place through judicial action.
At the same time, the paternity of a person registered in the birth record as the father can only be contested in judicial proceedings. Exceptions to the respective norm are the cases when the child is born within marriage (for a child born within marriage, the legal presumption of paternity operates, respectively, the mother’s husband is presumed to be the father of the child), but the mother denies that her husband is the father of the child and is against entering the husband’s data in the child’s birth record. For the situations in question, paternity can be challenged by means of administrative procedures, only at the time of registration of the child’s birth, provided that there is also the written consent of the husband.