Family Law Question

crosbie

Hi all. Just doing some research for a paper I'm writing and I came upon a curiosity of Irish Law, or so it seems! Anyway the hypothesis is this: say an unmarried couple have a child, the woman was previously married but has not been divorced nor legally separated - in the eyes of the law she is still married (!?) Can the father of the child be registered on the birth cert? If not and something happens the mother does Irish law presume that the husband is the child's father? Does the unmarried father have any recourse under Irish law (forgetting about EU Law for the moment)? Can all this simply be resolved by getting an affidavit sworn by the husband disclaiming all links to the child? I thought an absurdity such as this would have been cleared up but it seems still to be the position in Ireland. I would appreciate any previous cases (in Ireland) which dealt with such an issue, I just can't seem to find them. Thanks.

Jo King

crosbie wrote: »

Hi all. Just doing some research for a paper I'm writing and I came upon a curiosity of Irish Law, or so it seems! Anyway the hypothesis is this: say an unmarried couple have a child, the woman was previously married but has not been divorced nor legally separated - in the eyes of the law she is still married (!?) Can the father of the child be registered on the birth cert? If not and something happens the mother does Irish law presume that the husband is the child's father? Does the unmarried father have any recourse under Irish law (forgetting about EU Law for the moment)? Can all this simply be resolved by getting an affidavit sworn by the husband disclaiming all links to the child? I thought an absurdity such as this would have been cleared up but it seems still to be the position in Ireland. I would appreciate any previous cases (in Ireland) which dealt with such an issue, I just can't seem to find them. Thanks.

When a married woman gives birth there is a rebuttable presumption that the child is that of her husband. A paternity suit can be brought in the Circuit Court and blood tests can be ordered to enable paternity or the lack of it to be established. Any name can be put on the birth cert as the father as the Registrar does not look for marriage certs when registering a birth.

crosbie

Jo King wrote: »

When a married woman gives birth there is a rebuttable presumption that the child is that of her husband. A paternity suit can be brought in the Circuit Court and blood tests can be ordered to enable paternity or the lack of it to be established. Any name can be put on the birth cert as the father as the Registrar does not look for marriage certs when registering a birth.

Thanks for your reply. What is really puzzling me is whether the natural father in such a situation will be given the option to have his paternity registered on the birth certificate? Form the http://www.groireland.ie/ website I note that there is a Statutory Declaration required from the husband. If the husband cannot be contacted etc. does this then mean that we are once again back in the situation that the child can be taken from the natural father. This seems strange in light of European jurisprudence??