You recognized a child when you were not his biological father?
You have been recognized by a man who is not your biological father?
Your child has been recognized by someone who is not his biological father?
What whether you're in your situation, you want to have this recognition in order to re-establish the legal reality and destroy the link between parentage created.
This is possible but it is important to have all the keys in hand before to initiate this legal action.
In indeed, there are several cases of paternity challenges depending on each person's situation.
dice Each case, the result is a way of introducing a procedure that must comply with specific deadlines.
This means that the time to request the cancellation of this parentage depends on the the situation you find yourself in.
The purpose of this article will be to list each case, describe the procedure and the consequences of it.
A/ Cases of parentage challenges
1. Dispute of paternity established by a possession of a state in accordance with the title:
What's that? State possession?
It refers to a legal presumption parentage of a person on the basis of facts found by those around him concerning the relationship that existed between her and the person of whom she claims to be the parent.
The state possession is behaving like a parent towards the child that is, provide for its maintenance and education.
The title is the fact that a person has recognized the child in his birth certificate.
As well where this state possession is in accordance with the title, i.e. the father appearing on the child's birth certificate behaves well as a father, the action in protest may be initiated by the child, one of his father and mother or the one who claims to be the biological parent.
This action must be initiated five years from the day state possession ceased or when the parent who recognized the child died.
If state possession lasted more than five years, the paternity challenge will never be initiated again.
2. Dispute of paternity established by a title without state possession:
Where there was no state possession, paternity suit can be brought by any person who demonstrates an interest (the child from the age of majority, the mother or the legal father or biological father).
This action must be initiated within ten from the day the title was established, being specified that for the child, these ten years will count from his majority.
It should be noted that when there appears to be fraud of the law in a paternal recognition, the public prosecutor may also bring an action in contesting paternity.
B/ The dispute procedure Paternity
It must be introduced by a lawyer who will assist you and defend your interests.
It must be brought before the Tribunal Competent court of the defendant's place in action and not of the plaintiff.
When the action is introduced, it is necessary to to show the judge on the one hand that you are well on your way to introducing action, and on the other hand, that there are indisputable elements about the that the official father cannot be the biological father.
This demonstration can be done by all means (certificates, emails, etc.)
In general and in principle, the judge will order a biological assessment to be sure that the parent cannot actually be the biological parent.
This expertise will be carried out the most often on the child and the legal father or, if the father has died, on the child and members of the legal father's family.
It is a written procedure, which means that the lawyers for each party will exchange conclusions and exhibits proceedings, according to a timetable set by the Judge.
It is important to know that this procedure is quite long since there is currently only one legally recognized laboratory in France to establish an expert report on the samples that will take place.
C/ The consequences of the action paternity challenge
Assuming the action has been introduced within the time frame described above, and where it is established that the father legal law is not the biological father, the first consequence is the annihilation legal link of parentage retroactively.
That is, the recognition will be cancelled as if it had never existed, either on the day of birth child's child.
The child's birth certificate will therefore be amended in this direction.
The second consequence is that the name the child's surname may be changed, in the event that he had taken the name of the father who recognized him.
Finally, the third possible consequence the judge's interests may be in the best interests of the child and whether the child had had a specific relationship with the father who had recognized him, fixing how to exercise parental authority.
Parental authority will be exercised by the sole parent or mother, but the Tribunal may order the establishment of a right to visitation and accommodation for the person who recognized the child and therefore had a special connection to it.
It is therefore necessary to take advice and to be assisted by a lawyer for this challenge Paternity.
For more information, I invite you to contact the firm.