Manitoba Justice
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Family Justice
Family Law
Family Law in Manitoba - 2005 Edition
Chapter 6
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Last revised: Spring 2005
PARENTAGE
Children born to married parents and those born outside marriage have equal legal status and rights. In determining matters such as a child's right to maintenance or to inherit from a parent or relative, it does not matter if the child's parents were married or not.
The Family Maintenance Act has provisions for determining the parentage of a child when this is in dispute. For example, a mother may wish to have a certain man legally declared to be the father so that her child may have the right to support from him and the right to inherit from him. A man may want to have the court declare him to be the father of a child so that he can claim custody or access.
The act sets out certain circumstances where it is presumed that a man is the father of a child. These are:
- he was married to the child's mother when the child was born
- he was married to the mother and the marriage ended within 300 days before the child was born (the court may allow a longer period)
- he married the mother after the child's birth and acknowledged that he is the father
- he and the mother have acknowledged in writing that he is the father
- he and the mother were living together in a relationship of some permanence at the time of the child's birth
- the child was born within 300 days after he and the mother stopped living together in this type of relationship (the court may allow a longer period)
- he has been found by a court to be the father
If any of these circumstances (presumptions of paternity) apply, the court will make an order declaring the man to be the father of the child, unless the man proves to the court that he is not the father. If none of the presumptions of paternity apply, the person seeking the declaration must prove that the man is the father of the child. Blood or DNA tests may be helpful to decide a child's parentage.
Where a presumption of paternity applies, an application for a declaration of parentage can be made where either the father or the child is alive. For example, an application for an order declaring a man to be the father of the child can be made after the man's death. If none of the presumptions of paternity apply, an order will not be made unless both the man and the child are alive.
Once the court has declared a person to be a child's parent, the order is forwarded to Manitoba's Vital Statistics Agency and the registration of birth for the child is amended accordingly.
