The purpose of this paper is first to understand French parenthood, namely the way to be the legal father or mother of a child. Investigating further, we will see whether the current legislation is modern enough or not, which will be our main question. Indeed, some scholars and politicians think that all of the French family laws have to be reformed because it takes its roots from the civil code of Napoleon from 1804 and therefore is too old . However, it is obvious that since 1804 French family law underwent various reforms. Filiation is the kinship relation between an individual and the individual's progenitors ; the legal tie between a child and his parents. French law has three kinds of filiations first of which is the legal filiations ("filiations légitime"), followed by the natural filiations (“filiations naturelle”) and finally the adoptive filiations (“filiations adoptive”). However, one has to keep in mind that it does not really matter whether the child is born in wedlock or not. Indeed, all the children are equal. Discrimination between legal and natural children has been officially abolished since the condemnation of France by the European Court of Human Rights.
[...] This might lead to strange and not acceptable situations, but the French law is thus! Indeed, the child might have two fathers: first the husband of his mother and the man who recognized him or the man found after the research of fatherhood. Because of this kind of case-law, the civil code gives the right to the judge to determine which one is the most credible father[13]. The second way to dispute the presumption of paternity, when the child does not have the “possession d'état” is by interpreting article 322 of the civil code from a contrary position[14]. [...]
[...] French law lays down the following presumption: a child is presumed to have been conceived during the period going from three hundreds days before his birth to one hundred and eighty days before this birth[5] How to prove the legal filiations in French law? The legal filiations can be proved by two ways in the French legislation. First of all, it can be proved by the title which is the birth certificate enrolled on the registry from the city hall. [...]
[...] Only one of the conjoint can adopt in this case, and thus we have the same problem as the simple adoption in case of a couple living together under the regime of a civil pact of solidarity (because the PACS is not only for homosexual couples, heterosexual couples can also sign this kind of contract to pay less taxes for example . ) How to adopt? For the plenary adoption, the procedure to adopt a child is rather more complex than for the simple adoption. [...]
[...] However, in French law, the child has to be careful! Indeed, when his parents get older, he is obliged to support them if they do not have enough money. If he refuses, the parents are allowed to ask maintenance before the judge[16] Who exercises the parental authority? The parental authority is exercised by both parents (the mother and the father) as long as they are married. If they disagree on education, they may ask the judge who decides in the bests interests of the child. [...]
[...] Concerning the reprieve of this action, the French law is not so understandable. Indeed, if the mother acts on behalf of her child, she has to do it before her child is two years old. But after this period the supposed father can still be sued by the child when he is major. Indeed, the child also has two years to act, but those two years of which are after his majority: Consequently, even eighteen years after, the father can still be prosecuted. [...]
APA Style reference
For your bibliographyOnline reading
with our online readerContent validated
by our reading committee
