Challenging presumptive paternity and previously existing methods for overcoming the presumption of paternity: the Soviet legacy and modern realities

This article presents a study of Soviet and post-Soviet models of judicial and administrative overcoming of the presumption of paternity. The relevance of this study, in terms of the retrospective evolution of the presumption of paternity, is due to the fact that administrative overcoming of the presumption of paternity has appeared three times in domestic legislation over the past hundred years and then been abolished three times. It was then again reflected in a draft law that was considered in 2017–2019 but was not adopted because the bill's sponsors, without good reason, failed to amend it to take into account comments from various government agencies. This suggests that legislators have yet to develop a stable position regarding the need to consolidate administrative overcoming of the presumption of paternity, in addition to the existing judicial mechanism for challenging presumptive paternity, which indicates the need for further research on this topic. The following methods were used as the methodological basis for the research: analysis, synthesis, deduction, induction, generalization, formal-legal method; historical-legal methods. As an analysis of case law has shown, challenging presumptive paternity in court is unnecessary in cases where the child's mother and her spouse (former spouse) were reliably aware at the time of the child's birth registration that the husband (ex-husband) was not the child's biological father, and neither wished to claim the mother's husband (ex-husband) as the child's father. Such spouses had effectively terminated their marital relationship at the time of the child's conception, as evidenced by their joint explanations (which are sufficient for the courts to challenge paternity) or by decisions on the division of jointly acquired property. This article presents arguments supporting the advisability of reinstating the administrative overcoming of the presumption of paternity in Russian law by having the child's mother and her spouse (former spouse) file an application with the civil registry office prior to the child's birth registration.