Proving a filiation

There are four ways to prove filiation between you and your child.

Whatever the circumstances of your child’s birth, you can prove filiation by presenting the child’s act of birth.

The act of birth is an official document that records a child’s birth and establishes the child’s filiation. It is drawn up by the registrar of civil status using:

• the attestation of birth  completed by the person who delivered the baby;
• the declaration of birth completed by the parents within 30 days of the birth.

In some situations, the registrar of civil status cannot issue a copy of a child's act of birth, for example when: 

• the child's birth was not declared as required;
• the parent who did not give birth to the child recognizes the filiation at a later date.

In such a case, to prove your child's filiation with you, you must be able to show that the child has uninterrupted possession of status. 

To do this, you must present all the facts that demonstrate your child's relationship with you, such as:

• the fact that you brought up the child;
• the fact that you recognized the child as your own;
• the fact that the child is recognized by others as being your child.

After the register of civil status has been corrected, you or you child will be able to obtain a copy of the child's act of birth or apply for a passport, to take two examples.

You are presumed to be the parent of a child born:

• during your marriage, civil union or de facto union with the parent who gave birth;
• less than 300 days after the annulment or dissolution of your marriage or civil union or the end of your de facto union with the parent who gave birth;
• more than 300 days after that date, if you have resumed a community of life with the parent who gave birth.

This is known as a presumption of paternity.

End of the presumption of paternity

You are no longer presumed to be the parent if the child is born after the parent who gave birth has married or entered into a civil union or de facto union.

The new spouse of the parent who gave birth will then be the child’s presumed parent.

De facto spouses and same-sex couples in a civil union

The presumptions of paternity and parenthood do not apply to de facto spouses in a same-sex or opposite-sex union, and the presumption of paternity does not apply to same-sex spouses in a civil union.

Child conceived through assisted procreation

A similar presumption, known as the presumption of parenthood, exists for a child born through assisted procreation. Under this presumption, the spouse of the parent who gave birth is the child’s other parent.

You can establish filiation by voluntary acknowledgement. As the child’s mother or father, you can make a written declaration, made before a notary or not, voluntarily acknowledging the child and attesting to paternity or maternity.

You can acknowledge filiation in this way only if it cannot be proved by:

• act of birth;
• uninterrupted possession of status;
• presumption of paternity.

Your voluntary acknowledgement is binding only on you, and cannot disprove a filiation already established by an act of birth, except if it is contested before the courts.