{"id":5594,"date":"2026-02-04T11:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T10:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.anwaelte-schneider-stein.de\/?p=5594"},"modified":"2026-02-04T11:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T10:58:08","slug":"right-of-way-for-the-welfare-of-the-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anwaelte-schneider-stein.de\/en\/ssp-news\/vorfahrt-fuer-das-kindeswohl\/","title":{"rendered":"Right of way for the best interests of the child!"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"l-section wpb_row height_small\"><div class=\"l-section-h i-cf\"><div class=\"g-cols vc_row via_grid cols_1 laptops-cols_inherit tablets-cols_inherit mobiles-cols_1 valign_top type_default stacking_default\"><div class=\"wpb_column vc_column_container\"><div class=\"vc_column-inner\"><div class=\"wpb_text_column\"><div class=\"wpb_wrapper\"><p>On 12 January 2026, Dr Marko Oldenburger expressed his opinion as <strong>Expert<\/strong> in the <strong>Legal Committee<\/strong> of the <strong>German Bundestag<\/strong> Criticism of the \u201eminor\u201c reform of parentage law planned by the Federal Government. In his statements for the <strong>German Bar Association<\/strong> he made clear:<br \/>\n\ud83d\udc49 <strong>The planned new parentage law falls short of the constitutional possibilities and the actual family realities.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Background: Why parentage law needs to be reformed<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In 2024, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that the previous right of natural fathers to contest a child's <strong>unconstitutional<\/strong> is. Since then, the legislator has been obliged to reorganise the law of descent - particularly with regard to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the <strong>Parental rights under Article 6 GG<\/strong>,<\/li>\n<li>the <strong>Fundamental rights of biological fathers<\/strong> and<\/li>\n<li>the <strong>The best interests of the child as a constitutional standard.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Although the present government draft takes up these requirements, it remains deficient in some areas from a technical perspective.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key points of criticism from Dr Oldenburger<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong> The best interests of the child must take precedence over formal parenting models<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>In Dr Oldenburger's opinion, the law should not categorically adhere to outdated two-parent models. One consequence of this is that one of the responsible parents must be taken away from the child and replaced by another person who is genetically linked to the child and also bears responsibility. As a result of this dispute over individual positions, the <strong>Child welfare<\/strong> not only insignificantly impaired. The Basic Law excludes <strong>Multi-parent constellations<\/strong> expressly not excluded. If there are more than two people willing and able to take responsibility, they may even be the significantly better solution.<\/p>\n<p>\u27a1\ufe0f <strong>If stable social relationships exist and all parties involved are able to co-operate, a legal three-parent constellation may be in the child's best interests.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><strong> Legal recognition of modern family realities<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Today, families are created in many different ways - for example through <strong>Patchwork<\/strong> or <strong>Reproductive medicine<\/strong>. Gender identities do not play a decisive role in parenthood. Parents can be people of all gender identities. Nevertheless, \u201emother\u201c and \u201efather\u201c should remain exclusive. The Federal Government continues to base parenthood on procreation by \u201ewomen\u201c and \u201emen\u201c or their potential ability to procreate. <strong>Same-sex<\/strong> Couples are denied any right to parenthood (with the exception of adoption). Paternity can be established by public deed without any conditions. It does not depend on a genetic connection. However, a woman (in addition to the mother) cannot become a parent. Not even if the child is genetically descended from her. The current parentage law does not adequately reflect these realities of life, and the draft law does not improve this situation.<\/p>\n<p>Dr Oldenburger therefore advocates:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>more <strong>Flexibility in parentage law,<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>a stronger orientation towards <strong>actually lived responsibility<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>and the courage, <strong>social and genetic-biological parenthood should be treated equally.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><strong> Private sperm donors must not destabilise families<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Sperm donation is permitted in Germany, egg donation is prohibited. A man can donate sperm privately, and the mother and (legal) father are not allowed to contest their parental status. One of Dr Oldenburger's main points of criticism therefore concerns the <strong>No legal regulation of private sperm donation provided for<\/strong>Whoever consciously and bindingly renounces parental responsibility and supports others in the fulfilment of their desire to have children through their gametes should not be able to become a (genetically identifiable) parent themselves.<\/p>\n<p>\u27a1\ufe0f <strong>Without a clear legal exclusion of ascertainability, there is a risk of considerable legal uncertainty - to the detriment of existing families and especially the children concerned.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li><strong> Avoid unnecessary legal proceedings<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The draft law forces putative fathers (persons from whom the child is genetically descended) to challenge existing family constellations by means of a court application for annulment even if they are worthy of protection and their own application will be unsuccessful - solely to meet the deadline.<\/p>\n<p>Dr Oldenburger criticises: This leads to<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>unnecessary <strong>Emotional stress for children<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>avoidable <strong>Costs for families<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>a weakening of the <strong>Legal and status certainty as to who is or could be the parent.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Conclusion: Modern parentage law needs clear guidelines<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>From the perspective of <strong>Dr Oldenburger<\/strong> It is clear that a modern law of descent must<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the <strong>Focusing more consistently on the best interests of the child<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Give greater weight to willingness to take responsibility<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>social realities instead of formal categories<\/strong> map.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The current draft law should be improved in this sense.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section><section class=\"l-section wpb_row height_small\"><div class=\"l-section-h i-cf\"><div class=\"g-cols vc_row via_grid cols_1 laptops-cols_inherit tablets-cols_inherit mobiles-cols_1 valign_top type_default stacking_default\"><div class=\"wpb_column vc_column_container\"><div class=\"vc_column-inner\"><div class=\"w-message color_blue with_icon\"><div class=\"w-message-icon\"><i class=\"fas fa-lightbulb-exclamation\"><\/i><\/div><div class=\"w-message-body\"><p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"\/en\/lawyers-2\/dr-marko-oldenburger\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">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 (<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"mailto:oldenburger@schneiderstein.de\">oldenburger@schneiderstein.de<\/a><\/span>) or use our <a href=\"\/en\/contact-2\/mail\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Contact form<\/span><\/a>.<br \/>\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. <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"\/en\/lawyers-2\/dr-marko-oldenburger\/#topthemen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Further information on the desire to have children here.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On 12 January 2026, Dr Marko Oldenburger, as an expert in the Legal Affairs Committee of the German Bundestag, criticised the \u201eminor\u201c reform of parentage law planned by the Federal Government. In his statements for the German Bar Association, he made it clear: \ud83d\udc49 The planned new parentage law falls short of the constitutional possibilities and the actual family realities. Background: Why the law of descent...","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-5594","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\/5594","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=5594"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.anwaelte-schneider-stein.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5595,"href":"https:\/\/www.anwaelte-schneider-stein.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5594\/revisions\/5595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anwaelte-schneider-stein.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anwaelte-schneider-stein.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anwaelte-schneider-stein.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}