Acknowledgment of Paternity

If your main residence is in the Philippines, the German Embassy in Manila may notarize an acknowledgement of paternity according to German law. The main requirement for such a notarization is that the case demonstrates a certain reference to Germany. This is usually the case if one of the parties involved is a German national.

An acknowledgement of paternity has to be notarized in accordance with German law and requires some preparatory work. We therefor request that the following documents be emailed or sent as simple paper copies via regular mail to the German Embassy:

1. Copy of the child’s passport or other official identification
2. Birth certificate of the child
3. Marriage certificate of the parents (if applicable) and divorce decree if the mother was previously married
4. Copy of the mother’s passport, including all stamps and visa
5. Copy of the father’s passport, including all stamps and visa
6. Birth certificate of the mother
7. Birth certificate of the father
8. Certificate of no marriage (CENOMAR) or CEMAR (Advisory on Marriages) of the mother of the child, issued from the “National Indices of Marriage”
9. filled out form with contact details

According to German law, it is possible to notarize a prenatal acknowledgement of paternity. Should you wish to acknowledge paternity before the child is born, please replace requirements 1 and 2 on the above list with the mother’s record of prenatal care and a confirmation of the expected date of birth.

Philippine documents have to be issued by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) (formerly National Statistics Office (NSO)) on security paper (SECPA). Please visit either PSA Helpline or the Philippine Statistics Authority for further information.

In order to prepare the notarization of the recognition of paternity, please send the above-mentioned documents as well as the filled-in questionnaire as PDF attachments (not as embedded picture files) by email (reference: “recognition of paternity”).

The German Embassy reserves its right to ask for additional documents not stated on the above list.

Please note that a thorough document check might be necessary should any doubts regarding the paternity arise after all provided documents have been reviewed. Please be advised that a document check may cause additional processing time and incur additional costs.

The Embassy will verify the provided complete documents and contact you directly to coordinate an appointment for the notarization. Please note that all original documents along with a valid passport will have to be presented at the time of your appointment. The notarization of an acknowledgement of paternity is subject to a charge depending on the current exchange rate of the embassy. Details can be provided upon inquiry.

Declaration of Consent

According to German law, an acknowledgement of paternity only becomes legally binding once the mother of the child has given her declaration of consent to this acknowledgement. If the presumed father has already acknowledged paternity in front of a German authority and the mother of the child has her main residence in the Philippines, her declaration of consent can be notarized at the German Embassy in Manila.

The declaration of consent to an acknowledgement of paternity has to be notarized in accordance with German law and requires some preparatory work. We therefor request that the following documents be emailed or send as simple paper copies via regular mail to the German embassy:

1. Acknowledgement of paternity by the father in front of a German authority
2. Copy of the child’s passport or other official identification
3. Birth certificate of the child
4. Marriage certificate of the parents (if applicable) and divorce decree if the mother was previously married
5. Copy of the mother’s passport, including all stamps and visa
6. Copy of the father’s passport, including all stamps and visa
7. Birth certificate of the mother
8. Birth certificate of the father
9. Certificate of no marriage (CENOMAR) or CEMAR (Advisory on Marriages) of the mother of the child, issued from the “National Indices of Marriage”
10. filled out form with contact Details

According to German law, it is possible to notarize a prenatal acknowledgement of paternity. Should you wish to acknowledge paternity before the child is born, please replace requirements 2 and 3 on the above list with the mother’s record of prenatal care and a confirmation of the expected date of birth.

Philippine documents have to be issued by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) (formerly National Statistics Office (NSO)) on security paper (SECPA). Please visit either PSA Helpline or the Philippine Statistics Authority for further Information.

In order to prepare the notarization of the consent to the recognition of paternity, please send the above-mentioned documents as well as the filled-in questionnaire as PDF attachments (not as embedded picture files) by email (reference: “recognition of paternity”).

The German embassy reserves its right to ask for additional documents not stated on the above list. Please note that a thorough document check might be necessary should any doubts regarding the paternity arise after all provided documents have been reviewed. Please be advised that a document check may cause additional processing time and incur additional costs.

The Embassy will verify the provided complete documents and contact you directly to coordinate an appointment for the notarization. Please note that all original documents along with a valid passport will have to be presented at the time of your appointment.

The notarization of a declaration of consent is subject to a charge depending on the current exchange rate of the embassy. Details can be provided upon inquiry.

Maintenance (Child Support)

Any person entitled to maintenance can lodge a request to recover maintenance abroad. This will however most frequently be done in order to recover child maintenance. When children are under age, their legal representatives must act for them.

Which maintenance law applies in these cases is determined in accordance with the international private law of the requested state. In many cases, the law of the state in which the person entitled to maintenance has his/her habitual place of residence is applicable. So if the child lives in the Philippines, Philippine law is applicable to determine the claim of maintenance.

Persons entitled to maintenance from the Philippines can send their claims to Germany via the Central Authority which is designated for this purpose.

The Central Authority named according to the “United Nations Convention on the Recovery Abroad of Maintenance of 20 June 1956” in the Philippines is the

Office of the Solicitor General

# 134 Amorsolo St.

Legaspi Village, Makati, 1229

Metro Manila, Philippines

Tel. +63 2 818-6301 to 09

Fax: +63 2 817-6037

The receiving Central Authority in the Federal Republic of Germany is the Federal Office of Justice:

Bundesamt für Justiz - Zentrale Behörde (Auslandsunterhalt)

53094 Bonn, Germany

Telefon: +49 (0) 228 99 410 – 40

Telefax: +49 (0) 228 99 410 – 5202

E-Mail Federal Office of Justice

Website Federal Office of Justice

The Federal Office of Justice verifies that the request is complete and takes all suitable steps to assert or enforce the maintenance claim. In addition to attempting to reach an amicable agreement and voluntary payment, it may also be necessary to assert the claim in court. The judicial proceedings do not entail a risk for the applicant with regard to his/her own costs since legal aid is granted without proof of need (the court only verifies the prospect of success of the judicial proceedings that have been applied for). However, in the event of losing the court case, the costs incurred by the opponent – in practical terms these are essentially the costs of the other side’s lawyer – are to be refunded (section 123 of the German Code of Civil Procedure [Zivilprozessordnung]).

The Federal Office of Justice takes action for the applicant during the entire proceedings, once it has been duly authorized by the applicant (or the legal representative). This also incorporates the investigation of the whereabouts of the person obliged to furnish maintenance and their ability to pay.

Depending on the case constellation, a foreign title is declared enforceable in the Federal Republic of Germany or a first maintenance title is created. If paternity has not yet been ascertained, paternity determination proceedings are first implemented.

Below, please find the forms required by the Federal Office of Justice when filing your claim. Please note that the correspondence with the Federal Office of Justice is carried out directly through the Office of the Solicitor General in Manila, the German Embassy in Manila or the Philippine Embassy in Berlin are not to be further involved in the correspondence.

Application form

Power of Attorney

Bank account form

Adoption

Please find further information regarding adoption from our German website.

Registration of marriage abroad in Germany

For information about registration of marriage abroad in Germany, see here (in German).

For online appointments, click here.

Registration of birth abroad in Germany

For information about registration of birth abroad in Germany, see here (in German).

For online appointments, click here.1691254

German name law

For information about German name law, see here (in German).

For online appointments, click here.

Birth, marriage and death certificates

If you need a new German birth-/marriage-/death certificate please contact directly the civil registry in Germany which notarized the case of birth, marriage or death. The competent civil registry will then issue the requested number of new certificates. Please be informed that a fee will be charged which has to be paid by the applicant.

Philippine certificates can be obtained at the Philippine Statistics Authority, more information about the procedures can be obtained here or you could visit the PSA Helpline.