Germany to force women in paternity cases to name men they’ve had sex with
Justice Minister seeking law change to order women to reveal idenitites of men they've had sex with, to make it easier for false fathers to reclaim maintenance
THE German government has drawn up a law change which will force mums involved in paternity cases to reveal who they have slept with.
The country’s justice minister has said the law will come into play when a man is seeking compensation after paying out for a child which he wrongly believed to be his.
The change will make it easier for these men to reclaim maintenance from the children’s biological fathers, although they will now be restricted to only claiming back two years of maintenance costs.
German Justice Minister Heiko Maas said: “We need to offer more legal protection for ‘false’ fathers to seek financial compensation.
The precise wording of the amendment to the law states that a woman must reveal the identity of any man “who has lain with her during the conception period”.
Only those women with “serious reasons” will have the right to remain silent.
The change follows a ruling by Germany’s highest court last year, which stated that their was no legal basis for forcing women to reveal the name of their children’s biological fathers.
If the changes receive parliamentary approval then they will be implemented as law.
A 2005 review published in the British Medical Journal found that the rate of children who are biologically fathered by somebody other than the man who believes he is their dad is around four per cent – equivalent to one in 25 children.