GERMANY: Germany has drafted a legislation which stipulates that mothers will be required to reveal the list of men they had sex with, to know if their children were fathered by another man.
The legislation has been proposed for the cases in which men who believe they are not the real fathers seek compensation. A court would determine whether a mother could keep the biological father’s identity a secret.
“We need to offer more legal protection for ‘false’ fathers to seek recourse,” said the justice minister, Justice Minister Heiko Maas, as he announced the measure on Monday. “The mother should only have the right to remain silent when there are serious reasons for her not to name the biological father.”
In such circumstances a woman would be legally coerced to provide information about “men who have lain with her during the conception period” and would only be able to refuse if there were “serious reasons” for doing so. The courts will decide if a woman’s reasons for hiding the identities of her former lover or lovers were applicable enough, Maas said.
“We want to offer more legal support to ‘false’ fathers seeking financial compensation,” Mr Maas said.
“In cases where the paternity test was carried out very late, it may have lead to undue financial damage to family life over many years. The aim is to clearly regulate the legal right of the apparent father for the mother to name the alleged biological father of the child.”
The proposed law, known in the media as the “milkmen’s kids law”, will be presented to the cabinet as early as Wednesday before heading to parliament.
Earlier in 2015, a mother refused to reveal the name of her lover after it was suggested her husband might not be the biological father and had a right to claim compensation for child support.
