A child born out of wedlock is illegitimate one. She/he is being conceived when your marriage was not legally registered or recognized in Indonesia. By law, the child is disconnected from her/his biological father and its family. She/he can only connects with the mother only, and her family of course. You need to do something about it in order to retrieve paternity privilege with the child. It is the privileges you enjoy as a parent. As a father of the child.
Paternity privilege can only be retrieved when your marriage complies with the current rules and regulations in Indonesia. Therefore, your marriage must be first meeting them before any course of actions set-out further. A definition of marriage has been set-out by the 1974 Marriage Law that stipulates a marriage is a spiritual bond between a man and a woman as a husband and a wife with the aim in forming a family (household) based on a belief in one almighty God.
The marriage further must meet several requirements in order to be legally recognized in Indonesia. First, you need to make sure that it is being conducted according to the couple’s religion and belief. Both you and your partner must have the same religion. We don’t recognize mixed religion marriage. Second, your marriage must be registered at a marriage registry in Indonesia. They will issue a marriage book, or a marriage certificate as proof of your marriage registration.
Definition of Out of Wedlock Child
In order to define an out of wedlock child, you may want to see from a different perspective. From the definition of a legitimate child that was conceived from a legitimate marriage. A legitimate child can also be born by the wife due to the results of a couple’s actions outside the womb. This second definition is to cover the child conceived with fertility proceeding in a laboratory.
Any child born from the couple that does not meet the definition shall be referred to as an out of wedlock child. It is a quite simple definition.
Establishing Legal Relationship
The 1974 Marriage Law before it was amended by the Constitutional Court stipulated that the child has only legal relationship with the mother and the family of the mother only. After the amendment, the legal relationship is also established with the father and his family too.
Some experts also insist that even though the parents’ marriage was not registered yet, a child can also claim his legitimacy as long as a religious marriage has been previously conducted by the parents. This would require a legal proceeding within the legal system in Indonesia in order to establish a child’s origin.
An acknowledgment made by the biological father can initiate the process for a child legalization. You need to enter into a paternity affidavit with exposures to the child’s rights and basic needs, such as the rights to be nurtured, upbringing, education, and using your family name. A consent from the biological mother is also required in order for you to proceed.
Why Should You Do It?
There are so many reasons why you should acknowledge and legalize your child born out of wedlock. So much more than that I can write here.
First, if you did not do it, the law does not see it equally. Child born out of wedlock can only be entitled to approximately one third of any legitimate child’s portion in terms of inheritance assets. I can go on further on inheritance law with its technicalities, but I will only come to a conclusion that you should do it one way or another.
Second, it’s your flesh and blood, for crying out loud. You shouldn’t abandon him. Leave no one behind. It’s your job so he can grow and get everything that life has to offer. As a father, we can do it better. A child with a father is a child with dignity and pride. A child without a father lives with sorrow and an empty look in his eyes. I don’t know why, but you tell me. Look carefully, when you take him to soccer practice. His eyes shine bright and sparkling. You don’t want to take it away from him. We can build a strong generation by being there, by doing your job. Last thing we want is to have a fatherless society. They need us, the fathers, more than you can possibly imagine.
Send me an email, or give me a call! I can help you to get you as the legal father of your champ!
I am Asep Wijaya. Thank you for reading my posts!
