DienstenFamily Law

The personal and family rights are part of the Civil Rights and handles the ascendency, the birth, the adoption, the marriage and the divorce as well as other matters of the family relations and the capability of individuals.

From his birth, a human being is a “Subject of the Law” and acquires some rights. In our judicial system rights are awarded to children if they were born in life and viable.
The newborn gains these rights from the date of his birth For example : the right to live.
The child also has some other rights such as a nationality, an address, the right to carry a name, the right to know his parents and the right to keep his identity.

The death of a person means the extinction of his status as « Subject of the Law », this means that he cannot detain concrete rights nor engagements. For judicial matters it is very important to be able to determine the exact moment of death. At that precise time the legacy will be opened .

The status of a person is his individual judicial situation which determines the capabilities towards his judicial relation with other persons (for instance being married, single or a member of a family). These judicial individual and specific bonds are of Public order and must be respected by all (for instance when surpassing the available part in a donation, the latter must be reduced).

The status of an individual is determined by the law for what concerns the admissible conditions and their range. One cannot contract a marriage unless respecting all the legal conditions and a marriage has very often consequences (duration, dissolution, mutual rights and obligations of the parties), imposed by the law.

The ascendency determines the relation between adults and children. When this is not established or if it is disputed, it is possible to have the ascendency determined by judicial decision, if necessary after a DNA sampling. The ascendency can also concern the parenthood intention through the services of a surrogate mother or through an adoption.

The marriage and the “Legal cohabitation Contract » are possible forms of the establishment of a family.
The conditions of access and the consequences are determined by the Law. A large part of the judicial relations between married people has been defined by the lawmakers and they cannot be ignored. It is possible that a marriage or a “Legal Cohabitation Contract” id refused. In such a case, the Registrar can be subpoenaed in front of the Family Court.

The marriage can be dissolved through a divorce. This can be requested by one of the parties or by mutual consent. After the dissolution of the marriage, a settlement and a division of the assets of the community will have to take place.

The parties or ex-parties , the children and the parents can introduce a request in front of the Court to obtain a sentence of payment of an alimony if this is not done voluntarily.