Article 289 of Sec. 2 Other Illigitimate Children

Art. 289. Investigation of the paternity or maternity of children mentioned in two preceding articles (Art.287 & Art. 288) is permitted under the circumstances.

Discussion:

            The investigation of the parental relation should take place while the alleged parent is alive; for only the parent is in a position to reveal the true facts surrounding the child’s conception. The spurious child must be required to file the action to establish his paternity or maternity during the lifetime of the presumed parent, as in the case of the illegitimate child.

            The parent is not compelled to execute a formal recognition of the relationship that he has denied: the court's, decision is self sufficient, without any other compulsion on the parent.Thus the term "compulsory recognition" applied to these actions to establish filiation is plainly a misnomer that should not deceive anyone as to their true nature, which does not vary whether the child is natural or not natural. Logically, the same limitation should apply to both actions, in the absence of express legal provision to the contrary.

            If in certain cases the law demands the admission of the paternity or maternity approved by the Court, it does so merely to assure that the effects of the acknowledgment will not be emotional harmful to the child. But there is nothing in the nature of a voluntary acknowledgment or recognition that would make its application to illegitimate children not natural contrary to law, morals or public policy. If the Code fails to mention such recognition in connection with these children it is not because their voluntary acknowledgment is forbidden, but because it is seldom encountered, since an admission of paternity of a spurious child involves an admission of their adultery, concubinage or incest Let’s not forget that illegitimate children (natural or not natural) are the result of extra-matrimonial activities usually kept hidden from the legitimate family.

It also gives the child the right to prove his paternal descent even if he was born in an incestuous or adulterous relationship and the right to bear his father’s name. It also extends the time limit to bring an action to establish paternal descent. Paternal descent can now be established any time during the child’s minority or five years of the child coming of age or within one year of the death of the alleged father, whichever is the later.

            Although proof of maternal descent is allowed proof of paternal is not allowed except in six specified cases. The more important exceptions are:

• Rape or abduction.
• Seduction brought about by fraudulent means or abuse of authority or promise of    marriage.
• Written admissions of paternity
• The alleged father and the mother living together openly en ménage during the period of conception.
• The alleged father providing for or contributing to the maintenance and education of the child in the capacity of father.

When the illegitimate child has succeeded in establishing his paternal descent what benefits does he derive there from?

• He has a share in his father’s succession to the same extent as an acknowledged natural child.
• He has a claim against his father for a contribution towards his maintenance and education.
• He has the right to bear his father’s name

            Although the Civil Code considerably improved the condition of recognized illegitimate children, granting them rights and actions that they did not possess under the former laws, they were not, however, placed upon the same plane as legitimate one. The difference that separates these two classes of children is still great, as proven by so many articles dealing with the rights of the family and with succession in relation to the members thereof. It may be laid down as a legal maxim, that whatever the code does not grant to the legitimate children or in connection with their rights, must still less be understood as granted to recognized natural children or in connection with their rights.