The Supreme Court authorized, by judgment 1141/2024, of September 17, 2024, to which laSexta had access, Parents of a child through surrogacy can change the civil status to indicate the family home as the place of birth. A modification which follows an appeal filed by the parents of a minor born abroad by surrogacy, whose paternal lineage is biological and whose maternal lineage is adoptive of the biological father’s spouse.
These parents, by requesting the transfer of the minor’s birth certificate from the central civil registry to the civil registry of their domicile, requested its modification. mentioning the place of birth of the minor by that of the parents’ domiciles. Faced with the refusal of the civil status, confirmed by a resolution of the General Directorate of Legal Security and Public Faith, the parents filed a request to oppose said resolution. The trial was dismissed at first instance and on appeal and the parents appealed to the Supreme Court.
After this, the TS allowed the appeal, considering the precepts of the civil status law in force at the time to be applicable by analogy, which allowed, in the event of international adoption, to change the mention of the place of birth of the minor in a foreign country to the domicile of the adoptive parents.
“Although the adoption is not international, the place of birth of the minor, in a distant country with which the parents have no ties, would denote the adoptive nature of the filiation and the circumstances of origin of the minor”, is indicated in decree 1141/2024 of September 17, 2024.
This analog application complies with the requirements of art. 18.1.º of the Constitution, while allows the effectiveness of the minor’s right to personal and family privacy (within the scope of protection of which are the affiliation and the data indicating its origin), 14 of the Constitution (non-discrimination due to birth) and 39.2 of the Constitution (protection by public authorities of children, equal before the law regardless of their affiliation).
The publicity of the registration of a certain place of birth abroad which, for example, would appear on his national identity document or passport, would violate the minor’s right to privacy, because it would reveal the existence of the adoption and the particularly sensitive circumstances related to his origin (in this case having been conceived by surrogacy) and would imply discrimination in relation to other filiations (in particular international adoption) which is not justified.
