How to get my fatherhood right over my unborn child with my German girlfreind?

Question

Dear Wefugees,

I am back again with a question ask on behalf of a friend of mine, who cant able to write to you about his case.

And the question is: He was in a relationship with a German woman, but out of marraige. And the girlfriend got pregnated by him, but after 6 months of pregnency now, the relatiuonship between them start getting very complicated. And due to that complication and misunderstanding between them, his girlfriend closed communication and contact with him, with her pregnency. And she is threating him of not giving him the child custody, and of not using the child to get a residence permit.

So being the case, the guy is confuse and doesnt know what is his right, and what can he do on this situation of the 6 months pregnency of his girlfriend on this complicated situation.

we would therefore like to know, what and how should we react to this case?

And what are or can be his rights as a biological father of the baby, even outside of relationship?

really looking forward to hearing from you, as soon as possible!

Best regards,

Moro

Answer 1

marriage or not, biological father is a father. He has all the rights. btw, the mother does not decide the custody of a child. Court does.

Answer 2

Dear @Yaffa, 

thank you for sharing your question with the Wefugees Community!

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If a father wants to claim rights such as child custody or for example wants to get a residence permit through his child it is important for him to acknowledge paternity of the child ("Vaterschaftsanerkennung"). In Germany the legal situation is that if a man and a woman are married, the man in the marriage automatically becomes the "legal father" of the newborn child. However, if the mother and the father of the child are not married, the father needs to acknowledge paternity before a notary or the youth welfare office ("Jugendamt"). It´s not a genetic test but more a statement. Therefore the approval of the mother is necessary. 

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If in your case the mother of the child doesn´t want your friend to acknowledge paternity, he would probably have to take the case before the family court to claim his paternity. Since I am not a specialist on this field I can´t tell you exactly how this works. If your friend and the mother of his child are not able to work their differences out between each other, your friend therefore should probably get himself a lawyer specialised in family law (Familienrecht). If he doesn´t have any money to pay one he can **** for free counselling centers that are specialised in family law.

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Also note that for a residence permit through a german child besides the document about the acknowledgment of paternity ("Vaterschaftsanerkennung") its also good to have a statement called "Sorgerechtserklärung" in which the parents of a unmarried child state that they want to raise the child together.

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I hope this answer was helpful for you. If you have any more questions please don´t hesitate getting back to the Wefugee Community!

All the best

Melina

Note: Please keep in mind that we can´t provide qualified legal advice via the internet and that any information given can´t replace such legal advice.