Presumption of paternity
The paternity presumption is in Germany a legal presumption in family law .
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The lawyer speaks of a legal presumption where a certain other legal connection is presumed based on an existing, formally detectable and already known fact or an already known or easily verifiable legal fact . A presumption does not require any evidence to support the actual legal claim. It is sufficient for the assumption of a legal presumption of connection to present and prove the presumption requirements. The most common case of fatherhood: If a child is born and the mother is married, it is assumed that the husband is the father of the child. This example makes it very clear that proof of marriage is much easier - e.g. B. through the marriage certificate - can be used as proof of biological descent .
Presumption in paternity law
According to Section 1600c of the German Civil Code ( BGB) , it is assumed in the avoidance proceedings that the child is descended from the man whose paternity exists according to Section 1592 No. 1 and 2, Section 1593. This is the presumption that the mother's husband is the father of the child at the time of birth, even if he dies before the birth, otherwise it is presumed that the father is the one who recognized paternity.
According to Section 1600d of the German Civil Code (BGB) , in the process of judicial determination of paternity, “the father who was present at the mother during the conception period is presumed to be the father”.
In these cases, the legal presumption is not necessarily applicable, but can be refuted: counter-evidence can be provided. In these cases the real ancestry has to be investigated. This is done regularly through parentage reports . The negative determination that a certain person is not the father is easier to do than the proof of the positive determination that someone is the father of a certain child.
