In the event of a conflict between the parents, is the child obliged to take his father's name first?
This should not be an obligation, rules the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
Leaning into the question, the institution ruled on Tuesday "discriminatory" the automatic attribution to a child, in the event of disagreement of the parents, of the name of the father followed by that of the mother, considering that "the impossibility of to derogate "was" excessively rigid ".
A Spanish woman had taken court action after separating from her partner during her pregnancy.
When her child was born in 2005, Spanish law provided that in the event of a disagreement between the parents, the child would bear the father's surname followed by that of the mother.
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The judges of the ECHR considered that of course, the rule of attribution to the child of the name of the father, followed by that of the mother, in the event of disagreement of the parents, “may prove to be necessary in practice and is not necessarily in contradiction ”with the European Convention on Human Rights.
However, they ruled that "the impossibility of derogating from it is excessively rigid and discriminatory against women".
Thus, the “difference in treatment” suffered by the complainant was not justified and therefore constituted a violation of the Convention.
Spain ordered to pay 10,000 euros
The European magistrates justified their decision by the particular circumstances of the situation: the complainant's child had not been immediately recognized by her father and had therefore only carried her mother's surname "for more than a year. », Until the recognition of paternity.
A scenario which thus departed from a rule recognized as too "rigid".
Spain was ordered to pay the complainant 10,000 euros for “non-pecuniary damage”.
In the meantime, the situation has changed in the country where, since a law dated 2011 and in case of disagreement of the parents, it is up to the judge in charge of civil status to decide the order of attribution of surnames. , taking as the main criterion “the best interests of the child”.
In France, the Porte mon nom collective, which campaigns to change the law, wishes to automatically establish the name of the father and mother for each child.
A project also defended by the LREM deputy of Hérault Patrick Vignal, who wants the establishment of this "important marker" while "the place of women remains complicated in our society", he had defended on Franceinfo.
