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you are here: > Civil Code
> Article 134
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4. Living relationships |
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| 4.3 Standards of a Living Family | ||
| Article 134-Paternity | ||
| 134.1 | Paternity | |
| All children whose filiation is established have the same rights and obligations, regardless of their circumstances of birth. |
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| 134.2 | Title and possession of status | |
| Paternal filiation and maternal filiation are proved by the act of birth, regardless of the circumstances of the child's birth.In the absence of an act of birth, uninterrupted possession of status is sufficient. |
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| Uninterrupted possession of status is established by an adequate combination of facts which indicate the relationship of filiation between the child and the persons of whom he is said to be born. |
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| 134.3 | Presumption of paternity | |
| If a child is born during a marriage or a civil union between persons of opposite sex, or within 300 days after its dissolution or annulment, the spouse of the child's mother is presumed to be the father. |
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| The presumption of paternity is rebutted if the child is born more than 300 days after the judgment ordering separation from bed and board of married spouses, unless the spouses have voluntarily resumed living together before the birth. |
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| The presumption is also rebutted in respect of the former spouse if the child born is within 300 days of the dissolution or annulment of the marriage or civil union, but after a subsequent marriage or civil union of the child's mother. |
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| 134.4 | Voluntary acknowledgement | |
| If maternity or paternity cannot be determined by applying the preceding articles, the filiation of a child may also be established by voluntary acknowledgement. |
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| Maternity is acknowledged by a declaration made by a woman that she is the mother of the child. |
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| Paternity is acknowledged by a declaration made by a man that he is the father of the child. Mere acknowledgement of maternity or of paternity binds only the person who made it. |
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| An established filiation which has not been successfully contested in court is not impugnable by a mere acknowledgement of maternity or of paternity. |
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| 134.5 | Non-contest of filiation | |
| No person may claim a filiation contrary to that assigned to him by his act of birth and the possession of status consistent with that act. |
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| No person may contest the status of a person whose possession of status is consistent with his act of birth. |
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| 134.6 | Contest of filiation | |
| Any interested person, including the father or the mother, may, by any means, contest the filiation of a person whose possession of status is not consistent with his act of birth. |
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| However, the presumed father may contest the filiation and disavow the child only within one year of the date on which the presumption of paternity takes effect, unless he is unaware of the birth, in which case the time limit begins to run on the day he becomes aware of it. The mother may contest the paternity of the presumed father within one year from the birth of the child. |
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| A child whose filiation is not established by an act and by possession of status consistent therewith may claim his filiation before the court. Similarly, the father or the mother may claim paternity or maternity of a child whose filiation in their regard is not established by an act and by possession of status consistent therewith. |
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| If the child already has another filiation established by an act of birth, by the possession of status, or by the effect of a presumption of paternity, an action to claim status may not be brought unless it is joined to an action contesting the status thus established. |
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| The action for disavowal or for contestation of status is directed against the child and against the mother or the presumed father, as the case may be. |
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| Proof of filiation may be made by any mode of proof. However, testimony is not admissible unless there is a commencement of proof, or unless the presumptions or indications resulting from already clearly established facts are sufficiently strong to permit its admission. |
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| Commencement of proof results from the family documents, domestic records and papers, and all other public or private writings proceeding from a party engaged in the contestation or who would have an interest therein if he were alive. |
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| Every mode of proof is admissible to contest an action concerning filiation.Any mode of proof tending to establish that the husband or civil union spouse is not the father of the child is also admissible. |
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| Where the court is seized of an action concerning filiation, it may, on the application of an interested person, order the analysis of a sample of a bodily substance so that the genetic profile of a person involved in the action may be established. |
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| However, where the purpose of the action is to establish filiation, the court may not issue such an order unless a commencement of proof of filiation has been established by the person having brought the action or unless the presumptions or indications resulting from facts already clearly established by that person are sufficiently strong to warrant such an order. |
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| The court determines conditions for the sample-taking and analysis that are as respectful as possible of the physical integrity of the person concerned or of the body of the deceased. These conditions include the nature and the date and place of the sample-taking, the identity of the expert charged with taking and analyzing the sample, the use of any sample taken and the confidentiality of the analysis results. |
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| The court may draw a negative presumption from an unjustified refusal to submit to the analysis ordered by the court. |
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| In all cases where the law does not impose a shorter period, actions concerning filiation are prescribed by 30 years from the day the child is deprived of the claimed status or begins to enjoy the contested status. |
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| If a child has died without having claimed his status but while he was still within the time limit to do so, his heirs may take action within three years of his death. |
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| 134.7 | Death of presumed parent before filiation contest finalized |
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| The death of the presumed father or of the mother before the expiry of the period for disavowal or for contestation of status does not extinguish the right of action. |
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| The heirs may exercise this right, however, only within one year after the death. | ||
| 134.8 | Filiation of children born of assisted procreation |
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| A parental project involving assisted procreation exists from the moment a person alone decides or spouses by mutual consent decide, in order to have a child, to resort to the genetic material of a person who is not party to the parental project. |
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| As in the case of filiation by blood, the filiation of a child born of assisted procreation is established by the act of birth. In the absence of an act of birth, uninterrupted possession of status is sufficient; the latter is established by an adequate combination of facts which indicate the relationship of filiation between the child, the woman who gave birth to the child and, where applicable, the other party to the parental project. |
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| This filiation creates the same rights and obligations as filiation by blood. |
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| The contribution of genetic material for the purposes of a third-party parental project does not create any bond of filiation between the contributor and the child born of the parental project. |
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| However, if the genetic material is provided by way of sexual intercourse, a bound of filiation may be established, in the year following the birth, between the contributor and the child. During that period, the spouse of the woman who gave birth to the child may not invoke possession of status consistent with the act of birth in order to oppose the application for establishment of the filiation. |
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| If a child is born of a parental project involving assisted procreation between married or civil union spouses during the marriage or the civil union or within 300 days after its dissolution or annulment, the spouse of the woman who gave birth to the child is presumed to be the child's other parent. |
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| The presumption is rebutted if the child is born more than 300 days after the judgment ordering separation from bed and board of the married spouses, unless they have voluntarily resumed living together before the birth. |
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| The presumption is also rebutted in respect of the former spouse if the child is born within 300 days of the termination of the marriage or civil union, but after a subsequent marriage or civil union of the woman who gave birth to the child. |
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| 134.9 | Non-contest of filiation purely on grounds of assisted procreation |
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| No person may contest the filiation of a child solely on the grounds of the child being born of a parental project involving assisted procreation. However, the married or civil union spouse of the woman who gave birth to the child may contest the filiation and disavow the child if there was no mutual parental project or if it is established that the child was not born of the assisted procreation. |
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| 134.10 | Same-sex female couple in a legal union |
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| If both parents are women, the rights and obligations assigned by law to the father, insofar as they differ from the mother's, are assigned to the mother who did not give birth to the child. |
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| 134.11 | Unlawful act of surrogacy | |
| Any agreement whereby a woman undertakes to procreate or carry a child for another person is absolutely null. No filiation rights shall be permitted to be exchanged, nor shall any attempt by way of adoption rules be permitted. |
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| If such an agreement carries with it any kind of monetary or financial gain, such an act shall also be considered a serious criminal offence. | ||
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