Mcgregor

J wrote:

I am pregnant for a young man who is very irresponsible. He has given me little money or support. Do I have to put his name on the birth certificate?

The answer:

The short answer to your question is 'No'.

A child who is born out of wedlock is called an 'illegitimate child' in the Registration (Births and Deaths) Act, and the name of the father of that child will only be inserted in the general register of births if:

i) He acknowledges that he is the father of the child and signs the registration form;

ii) He signs a declaration stating that he is the father of the child; or

iii) The mother signs a declaration naming a person as the father, and sends that person a notice requiring that he object within three months after the date he receives the notice and he then admits paternity, or does not deny it.

For these reasons, you could chose to give your child any surname, including your own. However, if you were married, your child would automatically be given your husband's surname, unless your husband consents to have the child bear some other name.

Further considerations

The expenses associated with childbirth and care can be quite substantial. So, if J reconsiders her decision to exclude the father from the child's life, or finds that she requires financial support from him, she may wish to note that she could enforce the father's obligation to maintain the child pursuant to the Maintenance Act. An order such as this could entitle her to receive a sum of money in respect of the child's prenatal care and birth from the father.

Maintenance

If this mother omits the father's name from the register of births, it could hamper her attempts to enforce the payment of maintenance from him in the future.

This is because one of the obvious ways in which the court is able to establish that a person is the parent of a child is on proof that the person's name is entered as a parent of the child in the register of births. In the absence of this evidence, it could become quite costly and difficult to establish paternity.

It is my view that the decision to exclude the father's name from the birth certificate should not be taken lightly, as there are many cases in which adult children have to obtain declarations as to paternity in order to prove their lineage, simply because the father's name was omitted from the birth certificate.