The procedure for depriving paternity is quite complex and lengthy. It has a sufficient number of nuances. This kind of procedure takes a long period of time and the presence of significant arguments to release the actual father from fulfilling his rights and obligations regarding his son or daughter. To satisfy such a decision, the legislation provides for a certain number of actions.
Is it possible to waive father's rights?
Paternity arises at the moment the child is recognized and the corresponding entry appears in the column of the birth certificate. It is impossible to simply abandon a child - you have to go through the procedure of depriving parental rights, referring to one of the provisions of the law.
Most situations where a parent faces deprivation of rights arises in accordance with Article 69 of the RF IC if the court establishes the following facts:
- domestic violence and abuse of minors;
- creating life-threatening situations for family members;
- alcohol, drug, and other types of addiction that negatively affect the formation of the ward’s personality;
- evasion of obligations towards the pupil - ignoring communication, refusal to provide, lack of any interest in the child’s life.
According to Art. 70 of the RF IC, only a court can make a decision on the basis of which the father is deprived of his rights to the child, while retaining the functions of obligations for financial support.
Read: how to deprive a father of paternity: when and in what cases is it possible.
The search for solutions to whether a father can renounce paternity forces one to look for compelling reasons to terminate official ties with the child.
The Family Code directly establishes the possibility of filing a claim by the second parent or an authorized supervisory body recognized to protect the interests of minors, excluding the possibility of the father independently initiating the process. Any decisions regarding determining the fate of the child are made by the court with the mandatory presence at the meeting of guardianship representatives from the department at the child’s place of residence.
Thus, by mutual consent, a man will not be able to obtain release from the status of a parent without a trial.
Upon adoption
The mother's new spouse or a stranger (if the child's mother has died or been deprived of parental rights) can become the child's adoptive parent. The father's consent to adoption is, in essence, a waiver of parental rights. If a man can personally attend the trial, then contacting a notary is not required.
Before the adoption procedure, the judge invites the parties, including the official father of the child, to a conversation. During the process, the man must confirm his refusal of parental rights and formalize his decision in writing. The judge must explain to him the consequences of the decision. The document is attached to the case.
Legislative norms
The procedure for terminating paternity is clearly regulated by the norms of family, civil, civil procedural and tax legislation, as well as the provisions of federal laws:
- Art. 69-71 RF IC;
- Art. 131, paragraph 4, paragraph 1, art. 23, Art. 24 Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation;
- Federal Law No. 143, approved on November 15, 1997;
- Art. 26 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.
The above provisions do not establish the right to voluntarily renounce paternity, however, in the process of building a strategy for the court, these rules should be guided.
When is DNA testing needed to establish paternity?
When paternity is unknown, identifying the potential parent is accomplished in a variety of ways.
But the most effective is the DNA test. It is believed that the reliability of the results allows us to establish a 99.9% probability of biological relationship.
The examination can be carried out voluntarily or ordered by a court decision (Article 79 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation).
The test is usually taken in the following situations:
- to identify the real biological parent;
- to collect alimony;
- to receive an inheritance.
There are no contraindications for participation in the procedure, since it does not harm the health of either adults or children.
In Art. 49 of the RF IC states that to establish paternity, the court has the right to consider any significant evidence of this fact. The test results will show how likely you are to be related to the child.
Options for ending paternity
While directly prohibiting the renunciation of one's rights on one's own initiative, the law allows for the termination of paternity through:
- deprivation of rights due to improper performance by a parent of his duties;
- judicial challenge to the fact of paternity if there are suspicions that the spouse did not know that he had no biological relationship with the newborn at the time of making an entry in the child’s certificate (the father’s claims in court must be confirmed by the results of a DNA examination, which clearly excludes consanguinity, and also documentary evidence that the baby’s mother deliberately misled him regarding paternity;
- transfer of the father’s powers when registering the adoption of a child by another person who is ready to assume the responsibilities of a parent upon marriage to the mother.
Since formalizing the termination of paternal rights on other grounds is not indicated in the cited articles of the Insurance Code, it will not be possible to simply abandon the role of the father, even if the mother of the minor adheres to the same position as the man.
What documents are needed to renounce paternity?
Voluntary renunciation of paternity is made by submitting a notarized application to the court. There may be either a statement of claim for relinquishment of parental rights or a waiver in favor of another person.
To submit an application to the guardianship and trusteeship authorities in case of parental refusal, indicate:
- name and address of the organization to which the application is sent.
- place of residence, registration and passport details of the applicant.
- information about the birth of the child.
- reason for denying parental rights.
- signature and date.
This application to the state guardianship authority will be the beginning of legal proceedings to renounce paternity.
The statement of claim must indicate:
- name of the court;
- information about the defendant and plaintiff, namely: their place of residence and registration, passport details, contacts, the same applies to their representatives, if any;
- child’s details (including birth certificate or passport, depending on whether the child is 14 years old or not);
- place and date of marriage and divorce proceedings (if they took place);
- end date of cohabitation;
- grounds and evidence for deprivation of paternity;
- description of the plaintiff’s demands (for refusal, for payment of alimony, etc.);
- if during the proceedings one of the parties wants to deal with the issue of collecting alimony, the statement of claim must indicate the price of the claim, however, even without this requirement, the court usually raises this topic;
- list of attached documents;
- date and signature.
The claim form is provided to the court and guardianship authorities.
Additional documents required to be attached to the application:
- certificate of the child’s place of residence;
- a copy of the plaintiff's passport;
- a copy of the child’s passport or a copy of the birth certificate, depending on the child’s age;
- a copy of the statement of claim;
- a copy of divorce and marriage certificates, if any;
- a document confirming payment of the state duty;
- a certificate of income, if the application indicates the price of the claim for the purpose of obtaining alimony;
- documents confirming the reasons for depriving a parent of his rights.
If, at the end of the trial, the court released the plaintiff from parental rights, then further changes must be made to the accompanying documents. It greatly simplifies the process when this same refusal is carried out in favor of another person with the subsequent adoption of the child or when a genetic examination confirms that the father and child are not related by blood.
The court also accepts witnesses who can confirm the parent’s dishonest performance of his parental responsibilities.
After a court decision is made in favor of the objector, the child retains the following rights:
- to receive an inheritance from a former father;
- to receive alimony payments, for their maintenance until adulthood or until the appearance of another official father.
In the Russian Federation, deprivation of paternity does not exempt parents from paying child support. This is stipulated by Article 71, Part 2 of the RF IC.
Challenging paternity
The law cannot insist that a man play the role of a father if the child is not his own and the adult did not know about his wife’s deception. To terminate paternity of a defrauded spouse, a judicial procedure will be required, including consideration of a claim and a DNA examination, indicating with more than 99% accuracy the presence of blood ties or the absence thereof.
Often young couples who do not have stable relationships and constant connections face this problem. The guy refuses to acknowledge paternity if there are good reasons to suspect his partner’s infidelity.
Only in this case, the man is not only released from the status of a parent, but also from subsequent obligations to finance the child.
An important nuance: if at the time of registration of the certificate a person consciously recorded himself as the father, having evidence that the information does not correspond to reality, paternity through challenge is not provided.
Frequent cases of contestation include situations where a child is born during a divorce or within 10 months after the official end of the marriage. In these cases, the law allows a woman to unilaterally register her former marriage partner as the father of the baby. Once a discrepancy is identified, the person recorded as the father in the birth document has the right to challenge his status by filing a claim with a judicial authority.
In addition to the father, the initiator of the challenge may be:
- second parent;
- jointly father and mother;
- adult child;
- guardian.
The challenge takes place in court on the basis of a claim. If the fact of a child’s conscious confession is revealed when registering a certificate at the registry office, the court is 100% likely to refuse to satisfy the requirements. Similar situations include cases where fertilization was carried out using the biomaterial of another man in medical conditions, when the person could not help but know that he would not be related by blood to the child.
Download the Statement of Claim to challenge paternity. Sample (30.0 KiB, 428 hits)
Termination of paternity through contestation requires the presentation of objective facts that there is no relationship between the adult and his ward. Cases of challenging paternity often end in the court's refusal to satisfy the plaintiff's claims.
What to do if the marriage is not registered and a child is born
The simplest scenario is voluntary recognition of paternity. To do this, the father needs to submit an application to the registry office together with the mother. Submitting such a joint application will not take much time if there is no queue. The paternity document will be received on the same day. After paternity has been established, the child has the same rights in relation to the father as children born in marriage.
If one of the parents is against filing such an application, the issue can be resolved in court. This helps protect the baby. If one of the parents has died or lost legal capacity, then paternity is also established through the court. Consanguinity between parents and children must be taken into account at the state level.
But before you go to court, you need to understand for yourself that in this situation the child will be endowed not only with rights in relation to the father, but also with a lot of responsibilities. He will have the right to his father's property after his death and alimony during his lifetime. And in return, he will be obliged to pay alimony to the father when he reaches retirement age. In addition, the father can forbid the child to do something. For example, go abroad. And can also participate in his upbringing and education.
Such rights of the father can pretty much ruin the nerves of the mother and child. After all, if recognition of paternity was forced, a man can be very picky about his offspring.
If the mother decided not to sue, but simply become a single mother, then this situation limits the rights of the father and child. As for the father, he does not have the right:
- communicate with the child;
- claim alimony in old age.
But at the same time he is not obliged to pay child support and bear responsibility for the child. In the absence of a father on the birth certificate, a child does not have the right to the father’s property and funds either during the father’s lifetime or after his death. In addition, he is deprived of his father's love and care.
Important: This is legally regulated by Art. 48 of Law N 143-FZ of November 15, 1997 “On acts of civil status”
Judicial procedure for deprivation of rights
When the reason for the refusal may be the inappropriate behavior of the father, and there is documentary evidence of this, an application is submitted to deprive the status of a parent while maintaining obligations to provide for the child. The claim is prepared and filed in the district court. And the guardianship authorities are required to be present at the hearing of the case. If the grounds for termination of paternity were serious misconduct and illegal actions of the defendant, employees of the prosecutor's office will also take part in the meetings.
If the attendance of representatives of the guardianship and the prosecutor is not ensured, the court decision is considered invalid.
In addition to documents proving an immoral lifestyle, abuse of a minor, drug or alcohol addiction, a state fee of 300 rubles is paid. See what documents are needed to deprive paternity.
It is important to note: when paternal authority is terminated, there is no talk of release from duties; supervisory authorities will monitor that the deprived father fulfills the duties established by law in relation to the minor.
To help prove the existence of grounds for denial of paternity, documents characterizing the personality of the father, reviews of neighbors, colleagues, and medical certificates (if various forms of dependence are confirmed) are called upon.
