Paternity of a child

If a child or its mother considers that the paternity of a child has been wrongly registered, a court action may be brought to challenge the paternity. A father who has been registered as the father of a child because he or she was conceived in a marriage or registered partnership may also institute legal proceedings to challenge the paternity of a child. In the same way, a person who considers himself or herself the father of a child who was fathered to another person may institute legal proceedings to challenge his or her paternity. If a father or person who considered himself the father of a child has died, the heirs of the child who passed on or nearest to the child inherit such legal action may be brought.

In a case of challenge before the court, the judge may decide by a ruling that blood tests be carried out on the parties and the child, and also other specialist examinations. Those involved are obliged to abide by bloodletting and other tests.

A legal challenge may conclude with the revocation of the case, a court settlement or by a court judgment. If the case is found to have been concluded that the registered father is not the father of the child, notification of this is sent to the National Registry and the name of the father is erased from the child's birth certificate. A child is then unfathered and the child can be fathered by granting paternity rights or by instituting a paternity case in court.