Changes in family law: Body fathers should be able to assert rights better

If another man has the legal paternity for the child he has made, the biological father should be able to contest this more easily in the future. A draft by Federal Minister of Justice Stefanie Hubig (SPD) stipulates that the challenge in the first six months of life of the child should generally be successful if someone can prove that he is the birth father.

The draft, which should soon be a statement, takes a look at the design, which a different man has already been recognized as a legal father with the consent of the mother.

It’s about binding to the child

If the minor child is older than half a year, it should remain in the future that an existing socially family-family relationship between the child and the legal father prevents such an challenge. However, an exception to this rule should apply, however, if the biological father also has such a relationship with the child, had an earlier point in time or if he has been seriously but unsuccessful for such a relationship.

The age limit provided for in the draft places that according to scientific knowledge, children begin to develop clear and stable bonds to their caregivers from the seventh month of life.

Judgment from last year

The planned change goes back to a judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court of April 9, 2024. Thereafter, physical fathers must be entitled to an effective procedure in order to assert their legal paternity, provided that this does not prevent the child’s well -being.

In the specific case, a biological father had sued the mother after the separation from the mother to the highest German court in order to be legally recognized in the role. As a legal father, however, the child’s mother had registered her new partner a few months after the birth – but only after the plaintiff had submitted an application to determine his fatherhood. The biological father had continued to maintain a relationship with his son after the separation. Laving his fatherhood was denied because of the existing socially family-family relationship between the child and the legal father.

Interests of all should be taken into account

“The Federal Constitutional Court decided last year that this flat -rate regulation violated your physical fathers in its fundamental rights,” said Federal Minister of Justice Stefanie Hubig (SPD). “We are now proposing a regulation that takes the fundamental rights of all involved.”

The court had given up the legislator to create a constitutional new regulation by the end of June 2025 at the latest. The deadline was later extended due to the early election of the Bundestag and is now running until March 31, 2026.

The planned reform is the first family law legislative project of the new federal government. More should follow. “The lived social reality in Germany has to be reflected in family law,” said Hubig of the German Press Agency. “This is our guideline.” However, the new coalition agreement does not include any changes that originally intended to change the traffic light government, which were then not implemented after the FDP has left the coalition.

No recognition in the current procedure

The draft now presented by Hubig provides for a “recognition lock”. This means that no other man can basically recognize paternity for a child, while a judicial procedure lasts in which a man wants to have his physical fatherhood determined. This is to prevent the child’s mother from asking her new partner or another man only to recognize paternity for your child in order to prevent the biological father from being determined as a legal father.

Second chance for the biological father

If an action for an appeal is unsuccessful, the biological father should also receive a second chance in the future. If one day the legal father no longer has a social-family relationship with the child, the family court must again decide on his application at the request of the biological father.

COMFORRACH for young people

And the proposal from the Ministry of Justice also provides for another innovation: from the age of 14, a child can prevent his consent from becoming the consent of his consent to become a legal father instead of his birth father. So far, the child’s mother’s consent is sufficient.

Prevent shams

Another project that the Federal Government wants to take care of will soon be about fathers. Or around men who – presumably against money – pretend to be the father of a child so that the mother gets a right of residence in Germany and possibly also social benefits. These mostly central men would have no intention to take responsibility for the child, according to the Federal Ministry of Justice. However, the inner department is in charge of this project.

Measures against shamporship

The traffic light government had decided to prevent the abuse of fatherhood in June 2024. After the coalition of the SPD, the Greens and the FDP, the parliamentary procedure for the shamfather was no longer completed.

“The problem has been known for many years,” says Hubig. She promises: “We get a solution on the way that works.” It is important to her that binational couples are not put under general suspicion.