Recognition of paternity

Yes, you must submit the documents in person.

Make an appointment using the e-konsulat system .

Declarations necessary to recognize paternity are documented in the form of a protocol. The document is signed by the child’s parents, the consul and the child, if they are over 13 years of age, who include their signature in the report and information about expressing or refusing to consent to the change of name.

The fee is 50 EUR.

The consul will accept the statement during your visit to the consulate.

If the consul accepts declarations on the recognition of paternity, the parents will receive a written certificate confirming the recognition of paternity. You can pick up the document in person during your visit to the consulate.

If the consul refuses to accept the declarations necessary for the recognition of paternity due to their inadmissibility – he will notify in writing the child’s mother and the man who claims to be the child’s father within 7 days from the refusal, about its reasons and the possibility of recognizing paternity before the guardianship court.

What is paternity recognition?

Recognition of paternity consists in the fact that the man from whom the child comes declares that he is the child’s father, while the child’s mother confirms (at the same time or within three months from the date of the declaration by the man) that the man who made the declaration is the child’s father.

Recognition may also apply to paternity of a child conceived before its birth, as well as of a child conceived as a result of an in vitro procedure, before the transfer of reproductive cells to the woman’s body. In the latter case, the declaration of paternity must be submitted to the head of the registry office – consular officials do not have their own powers in this regard.

The paternity recognition statements must match. If the positions of a man and a woman do not match, paternity is established in court.

Paternity can be recognized in relation to a child:

• conceived,
• born until the age of majority,
• deceased before reaching the age of majority – within 6 months from the date on which the man submitting the declaration of recognition learned about the child’s death, but not later than by the date on which the child would reach the age of majority.

As a result of recognition of paternity, the recognized child bears the surname:

• in the case of submitting consistent statements of parents regarding the surname – the surname of one of the parents or a two-part surname resulting from the merger of the parents’ surnames;
• in the absence of matching statements of the child’s parents regarding the child’s name – a surname consisting of the mother’s surname and the child’s father’s surname appended to it.

If the child is over 13, the child’s consent is required to change the surname.

Is paternity recognition tantamount to adoption?

Recognition of paternity is a different institution of civil law than adoption. The recognition of paternity is associated with the admission of the biological bond between the man recognizing the child and the child. On the other hand, adoption (adoption) consists in creating a legal bond between the adoptive parent and the adopted child, the same that exists between the parents and the biological offspring, with the awareness of the lack of blood ties.

My partner gave birth to a child in Poland and she will stay there for the next few months. I cannot go to Poland at the moment. Is it possible for me to submit a declaration of paternity recognition to the consul, and my partner to the head of the registry office in Poland?

Yes, it is possible. In such a situation, the consul will send to the competent Registry Office only the man’s declaration of paternity, and the child’s mother will have to confirm this fact within three months.

My partner doesn’t speak Polish. Does this exclude the possibility of him submitting a declaration of recognition of the child before the Polish consul or the Polish head of the registry office?

No, in this case the regulations only require the participation of an interpreter. It does not have to be a sworn translator from the list of the Ministry of Justice. However, in the case of a translator who is not a sworn translator, it will be necessary to collect from him (under pain of criminal liability) a declaration that he will perform the tasks entrusted to him conscientiously and impartially, respecting the legally protected secrecy and guided by honesty and ethics in his conduct. The interpreter should use legal terminology.

My partner’s husband passed away a few years ago. We plan to get married. Will I be able to make a declaration of recognition of her daughter from her first marriage?

There is no such possibility, because in this case there are no biological ties between you and your partner’s daughter. In this case, the procedure for adopting a child will be appropriate.

We have a foreign birth certificate of a child without my partner’s data as the father of our son. Should we first correct the foreign deed and transcribe it to the Polish register, or should we transcribe and submit declarations of paternity recognition?

In that case, the choice is yours. From the legal point of view, both paths of proceedings are acceptable.