What Is Parentage?
Filiation is the legal relationship that exists between parents and children. It is the legal bond between two people in which one descends from the other, either as a result of biological facts or legal acts. From this relationship derive a series of rights and obligations, such as surnames, nationality, parental authority and inheritance.
There are several types of filiation, mainly matrimonial and extramarital, as well as legitimized or recognition filiation. The rights derived from this do not have any distinction against the law, whatever their origin. Next, we will see some elements to better understand its legal aspects.
Types of filiation
Affiliation is accredited through registration in the Civil Registry, through the judgment document that determines it legally or by its recognition before the person in charge of the Civil Registry.
There are mainly two types of parentage: natural and adoptive parentage. The natural is one that occurs biologically or through assisted reproductive techniques. The adoptive is, as its name indicates, when it is not established biologically but by adoption. Within the natural one, the marital and non-marital filiation are distinguished.
Marital affiliation
Marital affiliation is one in which the father and mother are married to each other. This type includes children born before or after marriage. In the event that the children were born before marriage, the fact of filiation must be legally registered according to the rules that have been established for this purpose.
This legal figure is legally determined by the registration of the birth of a child together with the marriage of the parents. However, paternal affiliation can also be established by presumption.
Indeed, the Civil Code establishes that children born after the celebration of a marriage are presumably the husband’s. This is also valid for children born before 300 days after the dissolution of the marriage or the separation of the spouses.
Marital affiliation can also be established by final judgment, a situation that occurs only in the few cases in which the presumption of paternity cannot be applied and the consent of a spouse or both is lacking. In this case, it is necessary to request a judicial intervention to declare paternity or biological maternity.
Non-marital affiliation
For its part, non-matrimonial filiation is established by exclusion when the father and mother are not married to each other. This type is determined through the affirmative declaration made by the father, at the time of birth registration, in the corresponding official form.
In the event that the mother is married to a person other than the one listed as the father in the declaration, the aforementioned presumption of paternity would be applicable. In this situation, the immediate registration of the birth will be carried out only with the maternal affiliation, and a registry file will be opened to determine the paternal one.
Effects edit
Both marital and non-marital filiation, as well as adoption, give rise to the same legal effects. Among them, one of the most important are the surnames. As a general rule, if parentage is determined by the two lines, the parents may agree on the order of transmission of their surname before registration in the Civil Registry.
Indeed, the historical prevalence of the paternal surname in relation to the maternal one no longer exists. The two parents can freely decide their order. In addition to surnames, other important effects are nationality, parental authority, custody and inheritance rights.
Claim or challenge
From a legal point of view, filiation can be claimed or contested. Affiliation claim is called the fact of requesting the court to determine it in favor of a parent. This demand can be made by the father, the mother or the child.
It can also be challenged. This occurs in cases in which they seek to disprove an alleged affiliation. The challenge can be requested by the father or by the son. Thus, it can also be requested by the mother, acting on behalf of the minor child.
