The reciprocal rights and obligations of parents and children derive from the parentage of the children, which is established in accordance with the procedure laid down by law.

The mother of the child is the woman who gave birth to the child and the father of the child is the man who adopted the child.

 A child shall be deemed to have been adopted by a man who is:

• married to the mother at the time of the child's birth,
• has adopted the law, or
• consented to the artificial insemination of a woman with sperm from an anonymous donor or a non-partner donor; or
• who has consented to artificial insemination as a partner donor; or
• whose paternity has been established by a court. An anonymous donor or non-partner donor whose sperm has been used for artificial insemination shall not be identified by the court as the father of the child.
   

A man who is married to the mother of the child is not considered to be the father of the child if he has not fathered the child and the spouses have lodged a joint declaration to that effect with the civil status authorities or if the other man has assumed paternity.

Acknowledgement of Paternity

Paternity can be acknowledged only if the child’s paternity has not been established under the conditions provided by law. A man may acknowledge paternity only personally, by submitting a declaration, and it cannot be done conditionally or for a limited period.

A minor or an adult with restricted active legal capacity may acknowledge paternity with the consent of their legal representative (a parent or guardian). If the child’s mother is a minor or an adult with restricted active legal capacity, she may give her consent to the acknowledgment of paternity with the consent of her legal representative.

The acknowledgment of paternity requires the mother's consent, which must also be given personally and cannot be conditional or time-limited. Paternity cannot be acknowledged if the mother has been completely deprived of parental rights or has died without giving consent to the acknowledgment of paternity before her death.

Paternity Acknowledgement Declaration

To confirm paternity, a paternity acknowledgment declaration is required, which may be submitted at the time of registering the child’s birth or later. If the parents are married to each other, there is no need to submit a paternity acknowledgment declaration when registering the birth. If it may become impossible or difficult to submit the declaration after the child is born, it can be submitted exceptionally during pregnancy. In this case, the declaration must be submitted to the vital statistics office in Estonia. If abroad, it can be submitted to an Estonian consular office, which will forward it to the Estonian vital statistics office where the child’s mother will give her consent to the acknowledgment.

If the man who acknowledges paternity is the biological father and not married to the mother, the mother does not need her husband’s consent for the acknowledgment even if she is married.

If paternity is acknowledged at the time of birth registration, the relevant section on the birth registration form must be completed. If paternity is acknowledged after birth registration, a separate paternity acknowledgment form must be filled in.

If the child’s parents are not married and the father acknowledges the child after birth registration, the child may be given the father’s surname. In the case of judicial determination of paternity, the court may also assign the father’s surname to the child.

The right to contest paternity is available to a man whose paternity has been established by marriage to the child's mother or who has assumed paternity. The mother of the child and the child also have the right to contest paternity.

Within one year of the birth of the child, paternity may also be contested by the man who applies to establish his paternity in place of the man whose paternity has been established by marriage to the mother of the child or who has assumed paternity. If more than one year has elapsed since the birth of the child, the man seeking to establish his own paternity may challenge the paternity of another man only with the consent of that man and the mother of the child.

Paternity may also be contested before a court within one year of the day on which the person became aware of the circumstances of the paternity dispute. The court decides on the establishment or contestation of paternity on the basis of an action brought by the husband against the child or by the mother or the child against the husband. Paternity can be established by DNA analysis, which can be carried out either:

as determined by the court, or
extrajudicially, according to the wishes of the parties.
The result of a DNA test showing biological paternity is the evidence on the basis of which a judgment can be given confirming paternity if the other party does not convince the court of the facts to the contrary.

If the child is born as a result of artificial insemination, the parentage arises through consent to insemination.

The child is the offspring of a man who has consented to the fertilisation of a woman as a partner donor, or with gametes from an anonymous or non-partner donor, or with an embryo created from a foreign ovum. Neither the man himself nor any third party may challenge the parentage of a child by a man who has consented to the artificial insemination of a woman.

Where a female spouse consents to the artificial insemination of her own spouse, the child shall be deemed to be the offspring of the female spouse who consented to the artificial insemination of her own spouse. Neither the spouse who consented to the artificial insemination nor any third party may challenge the parentage of the child.

If you wish to establish paternity yourself and by agreement between the parties, call and arrange a time to have samples taken at the nearest forensic science department of the Institute of Forensic Science:

Tallinn, phone 663 6726
Tallinn, call Tallinn tel. 663 6752
Pärnu 663 6615
In Kohtla-Järve call 663 6780
663-663 676-666 Jakarta Juridical Institute of Forensic Science, Tel. You can also check the locations of the regional forensic science departments on the same site.

How and where is paternity established?
If the birth of the child has been registered and no man is entered in the population register as the father of the child, it is possible for the mother of the child and the biological father of the child to file a late declaration of paternity in the local authority of the county centre or in a notarised form. In this case, it is also possible, with the agreement of the parents, to indicate joint custody or to leave custody to one of the parents only. It is also possible to give the child the father's surname during the procedure for the subsequent assumption of paternity, as the child was given the mother's surname when the birth was registered with only the mother's details.

It is not possible to carry out a subsequent adoption of paternity in a county municipality if the mother is deceased and has not been able to consent to the adoption of paternity during her lifetime. In this case, it is possible to establish paternity in court. Similarly, it is not possible to proceed if the child already has a paternity but someone (for example, either the mother, another man or the father of the child) claims that the man on the register is not the real father of the child. In this case too, paternity must be contested in court.

There is no age limit for a later assumption of paternity, which means that it can also be made in respect of an adult child. The exception is that from the age of 14, the child's consent is also required for paternity.

When do I need to go to court to establish paternity?
Paternity can be established in court if the child's biological father does not consent to paternity or if the mother does not consent to paternity. It is also possible if the father of the child died before the birth of the child or before the birth was registered and could not assume paternity, or if the mother of the child is dead and could not consent to paternity.

Exceptionally, it is possible to establish maternal parentage in court in the absence of a certificate from a healthcare provider attesting to the birth of the child.

Under the Constitution, all parents have the right and the duty to raise and care for their children. Parentage automatically confers on the parent a maintenance obligation and the right to communicate with the child. A child who has no father in the population register is also not entitled to maintenance, state maintenance allowance or survivor's pension. The child also becomes the legal heir of the parent and has a maintenance obligation towards the parent as an adult if the parent needs help and there are no grounds to exclude the maintenance obligation.

If a child's descent from his or her biological father is not legally established and the child's birth certificate does not bear the father's name, there is no reciprocal maintenance obligation between the biological father and the child. In this case, the child is not entitled to state maintenance. Similarly, in the event of the death of the biological but uncertified father, the child will not be entitled to a survivor's pension or inheritance.