Is it possible to revoke paternity?
The legislation of the Russian Federation defines several grounds for establishing paternity:
- Marriage. The father of children born in marriage or within 300 days after its dissolution is automatically recognized as the husband of their mother.
- The desire of a father who is not married to the child's mother.
- Establishment of paternity forcibly by court decision.
In all cases, the registry office issues the child's parents a certificate of paternity or a birth certificate for the child.
The reasons why parents file a claim to annul paternity are related to:
- Breakdown of the relationship between the father and mother of the child.
- Doubt about paternity.
- Failure of the father to fulfill his obligations to support the child.
- Recognition of paternity under pressure or deception.
- The desire to adopt or adopt a child by another man.
- Another man's claim to paternity of that child.
Regardless of the reason, Russian legislation does not contain the possibility of voluntary annulment of paternity. This can only be done in court (based on Article 52 of the RF IC and Article 75 of the Federal Law “On Acts of Civil Status”).
Who can revoke recognized paternity
The cancellation procedure takes place in court. The plaintiff may be:
- A man who acted as a parent according to documents.
- Mom, other persons actually performing parental functions, including guardianship, maintenance, and moral support.
- The child himself, over the age of 18, who has good reasons to destroy family ties with his father according to documents.
Attention!
There is no statute of limitations for these acts; compelling circumstances are sufficient.
When can paternity be revoked?
The second and third paragraphs of Article 52 of the RF IC allow the court to refuse to satisfy a claim if:
- When paternity was voluntarily established, the man knew that there was no relationship between him and the child.
- The father agreed to artificially inseminate the mother.
- The father, mother and surrogate mother consented to the implantation of the surrogate mother's fertilized embryo into the mother.
In these cases, the child’s parents do not have the right to apply to the court to annul the establishment of paternity.
How to cancel paternity determination?
As mentioned above, the registry office cancels the record of paternity only by court decision. The court will satisfy the claim only if the mother or father can prove that the father and child are not related. The court will also evaluate whether there is a conflict with the interests of the child in the claim to cancel the establishment of paternity.
After the court makes a decision to annul paternity, the registry office will make changes to the child’s documents.
Procedure
For a successful court decision in this case, you need to follow the following algorithm:
- Consult a lawyer.
- File a claim.
- Collect documents and evidence of the absence of a relationship between the father or the child, as well as fraudulent means of establishing paternity or forcing a man to recognize himself as the father of the child.
- Pay the state fee.
- Apply to the court.
- Attend the court hearing at the specified time. The time and place will be announced in a special notice.
- Receive a court decision and submit it to the registry office.
- Receive a new birth certificate for the child, with the father’s information changed.
In this algorithm, special attention should be paid to drawing up a statement of claim.
Claim for annulment of paternity establishment
From the application to the court during the consideration of the case, basic data about the reasons and grounds for the abolition of paternity will be gleaned. Therefore, it is important to present all the facts in a reasoned manner, and compose the text itself in accordance with the requirements for the preparation of official statements. The structure of the claim is defined in Article 131 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. The header of the statement states:
- Name of the court.
- Details of the plaintiff and defendant, their places of residence.
When filing a claim by a trusted person, you must also indicate his data.
After the title there is a description of the circumstances of the case, among which you need to indicate:
- The circumstances of the development of relations between father and mother (marriage, its dissolution, etc.).
- Date of birth and details of the child.
- Grounds for establishing paternity (voluntary or forced).
- The plaintiff’s grounds for canceling paternity or doubting family ties with the child.
- Links to evidence confirming the absence of family ties between father and child.
Further in the text of the application you must indicate:
- Requests for an examination, calling witnesses, etc.
- Links to legal norms.
- Claim.
- List of attached documents.
At the end, put the date of filing the claim and the signature of the applicant.
Sample claim to revoke paternity for download
Required documents
According to Article 132 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, the court considers only those claims whose content is documented. Each circumstance described in the text of the application must be based on a specific document.
The list of main documents includes:
- Passports of the plaintiff and defendant.
- Marriage and divorce certificates.
- Child's birth certificate.
- Receipt of payment of state duty.
Other documents depend on the circumstances of the case. Among them may be:
- Testimony of witnesses.
- Correspondence between the parties to the case.
- Audio and video recordings of their conversations.
- Medical documents that relate to the essence of the case (for example, about infertility or artificial insemination).
- Evidence of the separation of a man and a woman at the time of conception of a child (business trip order, rental agreement, imprisonment or hospital treatment).
- Results of genetic testing.
The more supporting documents the plaintiff collects, the higher the chance that his application will be satisfied by the court.
How to challenge paternity
The first stage is a statement of claim to challenge paternity.
Of course, you need to know how to file a paternity challenge. A claim in court is drawn up with mandatory compliance with the requirements of Articles 131-132 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, otherwise there will be grounds for the court to perform such procedural actions as leaving the claim without progress, returning the claim or refusing to accept it.
At this stage, it is recommended to use the services of a qualified lawyer who will quickly and competently draw up a statement of claim, correctly formulate the evidence base and file a claim in court. The statement of claim must contain: the name of the court to which the claim is filed, information about the parties (full names, addresses, telephone numbers), details of the child in respect of whom paternity is being disputed.
The plaintiff must clearly substantiate his claims: set out in detail the circumstances that gave rise to the claim, and provide evidence confirming these circumstances. If the plaintiff in his claim refers to witness testimony, then the contact information of these persons should be indicated.
It is also necessary to indicate a list of documents that the plaintiff attaches to the claim.
These are the following documents:
- Receipt for payment of state duty
- Copies of the claim for the defendant and third party
- Copies of marriage, divorce, and birth certificates
- Other available written evidence
All copies of documents that are annexed to the claim must be submitted according to the number of persons participating in the case.
The third party in the case must indicate the civil registry office (ZAGS), since a positive court decision to challenge paternity is the basis for this body to make changes to the birth certificate of the child (clause 1 of Article 69 of the Law of November 15, 1997 No. 143-FZ ).
Paternity annulment process
The court has 5 days from the date of its filing to review the claim. If the application is drawn up in accordance with the requirements of the law, the claim will be accepted for consideration. Having decided on the date of the hearing, the court will send a notice to the parties.
During the hearing, the parties answer questions from the court, and also have the right to ask questions to each other and request the calling of witnesses or the appointment of examinations.
Based on the results of the proceedings, the claim will be satisfied or denied. If the decision is positive, you need to transfer the decision to the registry office, where the record of paternity will be canceled. On the front side of the document they will make an o, the data will be crossed out and the date, number of the court decision and which court made it will be indicated.
After this, the child’s mother will be issued a new birth certificate, as well as a certificate to receive benefits from the social security authorities.
Establishing the fact of recognition of paternity
Russian legislation (Article 50 of the Family Code) allows the establishment of paternity recognition in the event of the death of the putative father. This situation often arises in cases involving inheritance after the death of a deceased person. In addition, the Family Code does not provide for any time limit for establishing the parents of a child, so interested persons can submit an application to establish the fact of paternity, including after the death of the person whom the woman considers the father of her child. The ultimate goal of all actions is to change the entry in the birth documents.
The court decision does not replace this document, but provides grounds for changing it.
If a child was born out of wedlock, but during his lifetime the deceased recognized himself as his father, it is permissible to establish the fact of recognition of paternity through special proceedings. This procedure applies to actual circumstances that cannot be documented.
To do this, several conditions must be met: For example, if the recognition of paternity is established for the purposes of inheritance, the court must find out the opinion of other heirs on this issue.
If the requirement contradicts the interests of other persons, then a ruling is made to refuse to accept the application for the court to establish the fact of recognition of paternity. In this case, the applicant is not deprived of the right to resolve his problem, but only through a lawsuit. Then the court will consider the arguments and evidence of all interested parties.
Establishing paternity after the death of the father is possible, just as in the first case, in a special manner. But only on the condition that there are no persons objecting to the recognition of this fact.
USEFUL INFORMATION: What rights does a wife have when divorcing her husband?
For persons born before 1968, establishing paternity after death requires confirmation of their dependence on the deceased person. Establishing paternity posthumously requires the submission of evidence to the court, and any factual data, including letters and testimony of witnesses, can be considered as such. In such cases, the same full proceedings are conducted as in the case where paternity is established in relation to the living parent.
Carrying out examinations is not excluded, although posthumous establishment of paternity with their help is quite difficult. Since the court's establishment of the fact of paternity does not entail an obligation to support the child, this is most often required in order to acquire the right to inheritance, a survivor's pension and the exercise of personal non-property rights.
