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Information sign in front of the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe (archive image)
Photo: Uli Deck / dpa
After a private sperm donation, the biological father can also have a right of contact with the child if it has been adopted by the mother's partner with his consent.
This was announced by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe on Monday (
Az. XII ZB 58/20
).
In the case of sperm donation via an official sperm bank, it is legally excluded from the outset that the donor can later assert his position as a father.
However, if the donor comes from the mother's private sphere, things are more complicated.
The specific case concerns a child born in 2013 with whom the biological father was in contact until 2018.
One of the mothers was always present.
In 2018, the man wanted to be home alone with the child for a long time, which the legal parents refused.
Contact broke off a little later.
Does the interaction serve the best interests of the child?
Now the man would like to pick up the child from care every 14 days and spend the afternoon with him.
He was unsuccessful with a corresponding lawsuit before the Tempelhof-Kreuzberg District Court and the Berlin Superior Court - in his case there is no legal basis for a right of access.
The highest family judges of the BGH see it differently: According to their decision, the sperm donor is to be treated like any other man whose child is adopted by the mother's husband.
That is, according to the Civil Code, he has a right of access if he has "shown serious interest in the child" and "the contact serves the best interests of the child".
Whether this is the case here has to be checked again by the Court of Appeal.
The now seven-year-old child is now to be heard before the Berlin court.
wit / AFP / dpa