Acknowledgment of Paternity; Certification

The legal effects of paternity with respect to a “child born out of wedlock” can only be asserted once paternity has been validly acknowledged or legally established by a court.

The vast majority of paternity determinations are based on voluntary acknowledgment. This acknowledgment must be declared and publicly certified before the Youth Welfare Office, the local court, the registrar, the court handling the paternity determination proceedings, or a notary. Abroad, the competent consular official takes the place of the notary. The acknowledgment must not be subject to any condition or time limit. It is permissible even before the child’s birth.

For the acknowledgment to take effect, the child’s mother must consent to it. In exceptional cases, the acknowledgment also requires the child’s consent if the mother does not have parental custody in this regard. The most important case is when the mother is a minor, in which case her parental custody is suspended. In such cases, the child is represented by the Youth Welfare Office as the official guardian (of course, the minor mother, in turn, requires the consent of her legal representatives—typically her parents—to give her own consent). The consents to the acknowledgment must also be officially recorded.

If the man is not willing to voluntarily acknowledge paternity, the child or the mother may file a petition to establish paternity (however, a petition by the man to establish paternity is also permissible, for example, if, in his view, the mother is wrongfully refusing to consent to his declaration of acknowledgment).

The family court decides on the petition for determination of paternity in paternity proceedings. As a general rule, a genetic paternity report is obtained. If the report establishes a sufficiently high probability of paternity, the court determines that the man in question is the child’s father.

In addition to the petition for a declaration of paternity, the child may file a petition for child support if he or she is a minor. The local court’s family division may order the man to pay child support in the amount of the minimum support retroactively from the date of birth; this claim takes effect once the man’s paternity has been legally established or he has validly acknowledged paternity. This is intended to ensure that the child obtains a child support order as quickly as possible. Upon application, the court may, under certain circumstances, also issue a temporary order requiring the man to pay child support even before the paternity determination becomes final. If it is disputed whether the father can pay more or less than the minimum child support, this must be decided in subsequent proceedings.

Both during the preparation of a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity and in paternity proceedings, the child may be legally represented by the Youth Welfare Office as a guardian ad litem.

Authority for registration:

Youth Welfare Office, local court, court handling the paternity determination proceedings, civil registry office, notary, or, abroad, the competent German consular official. 

Jurisdiction for proceedings in matters of parentage:

Local court – Family court.

Acknowledgments of paternity and declarations of custody can be submitted by the parents as soon as the pregnancy is confirmed—that is, even before the child is born. For a prenatal declaration, the mother’s prenatal care record must also be submitted as proof of the pregnancy. Of course, these declarations can also be submitted after the child is born.