Registering the acknowledgement of paternity

If the mother is married at the time of the child’s birth, the mother’s husband is automatically the child’s legal father, provided there is no valid acknowledgement of paternity by another man who is the biological father. A wide range of rights and obligations arise from legal paternity.

You must acknowledge paternity if you are not married to the mother at the time of the child’s birth.

The mother and the child must consent to the acknowledgement of paternity for it to take effect.

You must have your declaration of acknowledgement of paternity officially certified. This also applies to the consent of the mother and the child. The consent of the mother who has custody implies the child’s consent, provided the child has not yet reached the age of 14.

Certification is possible, in particular, at the following institutions:

• Registry Office
• Youth welfare office
• Notary

If no other man has (yet) been identified as the child’s father, it is irrelevant to the validity of the acknowledgement whether the child is biologically descended from the man making the acknowledgement. However, if you are not the child’s biological father, your paternity, established by acknowledgement, may be set aside by means of a challenge.

If the child has already been registered as the child of another man, that man’s consent and the child’s biological parentage by the person acknowledging paternity are additional requirements for the recognition to be valid. In such cases, the results of a genetic paternity test must be submitted to the registry office for the paternity to be recorded in the birth register.