{"id":5193,"date":"2025-04-15T19:34:23","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T17:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.anwaelte-schneider-stein.de\/?p=5193"},"modified":"2025-07-03T16:40:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T14:40:34","slug":"olg-karlsruhe-no-second-paternity-suit-despite-bverfg-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anwaelte-schneider-stein.de\/en\/ssp-news\/olg-karlsruhe-keine-zweite-vaterschaftsanfechtung-trotz-bverfg-entscheidung\/","title":{"rendered":"Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court: No second paternity challenge despite BVerfG ruling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Background<\/strong><\/p>\n

In its ruling dated 28 August 2024 (case no. 2 WF 75\/24), the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court<\/strong> a clear boundary for the Renewed contestation of legal paternity<\/strong> drawn - even if the constitutional assessment has changed in the meantime<\/strong> has.<\/p>\n

At the centre of the decision is the question: Can a legally concluded parentage proceeding be reopened if a new legal assessment subsequently arises - for example as a result of a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court?<\/p>\n

The case<\/strong><\/p>\n

A natural father had initially contested the legal paternity of another man. However, his application was rejected with reference to an existing social-familial relationship between the child and the legal father. The applicant later withdrew his appeal against this, making the decision legally binding.<\/p>\n

According to the judgement of the Federal Constitutional Court of 9 April 2024<\/strong> (1 BvR 2017\/21), which reassessed the significance of the social-familial relationship in the right to contest, the biological father attempted to reopen the proceedings. He applied for the original decision to be amended.<\/p>\n

The decision of the OLG<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court rejected the application. The reasoning: A constitutionally new assessment is not a \"new fact\"<\/strong>which would allow a breakthrough of the Legal force<\/strong> would be justified. The decision of the BVerfG could therefore not lead to the reopening of proceedings that have already been concluded - even if the decision at the time could be different by today's standards.<\/p>\n

The court also clarified that even a Concrete new life situation<\/strong> - such as the loss of the previously existing social-familial relationship - would only be suitable to justify a new challenge under strict conditions. Such circumstances did not exist in the present case.<\/p>\n

Significance for practice<\/strong><\/p>\n

The decision emphasises the great importance of the Legal force in family law<\/strong>especially in the sensitive area of parentage law. Even after a judgement by the Federal Constitutional Court, a legally binding decision remains in place if it has not been explicitly overturned.<\/p>\n

The OLG expressly refers to the so-called \"Backstop\"<\/strong> of Section 79 (2) BVerfGG: Decisions by specialised courts that have already become final remain in force - even if the underlying legal situation changes at a later date.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

The OLG decision makes it clear that Paternity disputes only under very narrow conditions<\/strong> are possible again. Legal force not only protects formally concluded proceedings, but also the established social structures within families. A correction can only be made - if at all - by new, objectively changed circumstances or by the legislator.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>

<\/i><\/div>

Dr Oldenburger<\/a><\/span> advises and represents individuals, different and same-sex couples on the path to fertility fulfilment, including surrogacy and international adoptions. Send him an e-mail at (oldenburger@schneiderstein.de<\/a><\/span>) or use our Contact form<\/span><\/a>.
\nBy the way: We offer country-specific package prices for surrogacy and international adoption procedures from A-Z (fixed prices) or modular fees depending on your service requirements. This means that your expenses can be calculated from the outset. Further information on the desire to have children here.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Background In its decision of 28 August 2024 (case no. 2 WF 75\/24), the Higher Regional Court of Karlsruhe drew a clear line for the renewed contestation of legal paternity - even if the constitutional assessment has changed in the meantime. At the centre of the decision is the question: Can parentage proceedings that have been legally concluded be reopened if there is a subsequent...","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-unkategorisiert"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anwaelte-schneider-stein.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anwaelte-schneider-stein.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anwaelte-schneider-stein.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anwaelte-schneider-stein.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anwaelte-schneider-stein.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.anwaelte-schneider-stein.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5193\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anwaelte-schneider-stein.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anwaelte-schneider-stein.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anwaelte-schneider-stein.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}