Pay father
Zahlvater is a colloquial expression that has also found its way into the official and legal language in German-speaking countries.
Previous meaning
In the 1920s, paternity could be declared or established in court for an illegitimate child. Whether or not you were actually registered as a father in the child's birth entry in the registry office, however, depended on the father's application and thus also on his or her social commitment to the child.
Fathers who were only willing to pay but did not want to appear on the child's birth certificate were referred to as “number fathers”.
Today's meaning
The term generally refers to a father who, in his role as father to the duty to financial maintenance is restricted his child. It is used colloquially primarily as a self-designation and expression of the concern of illegitimate, divorced or separated fathers who see themselves prevented from exercising their rights of access or custody by the legal situation, by the case law or by the behavior of the mother of the child.
In Germany, Section 1626 (3) of the BGB stipulates that a child needs regular contact with both parents in order to develop properly. For some years now, German family courts have also decided to rule in favor of joint custody of both parents in the event of a divorce , provided that, in the court's view, there are no overriding interests of the child. In the case of illegitimate children, joint custody is only possible with the consent of the mother. If one parent refuses to allow the other to exercise his or her rights in relation to the common child, this can also lead to a change in custody in particularly serious cases.
In legal language, “number father” and “number fatherhood” are also used with different meanings if there is no biological paternity, but there is still a maintenance obligation for an illegitimate child of the wife.