A COURT has ruled that a British national, whose Filipino wife gave birth three months after they wed, is officially the biological father of the child.
The High Civil Court took into account English Family Law before handing out a ruling in the case.
Lawyer Zaheda Al Sayed, representing the 47-year-old British man, said that the Bahraini court used the law of the father’s nationality to be able to provide him a ‘proof of parentage’.
The Information and e-Government Authority (iGA) had initially refused to issue a birth certificate to the couple. The newly-weds had been refused the essential paperwork after the 42-year-old Filipino bride gave birth to their child in October.
The couple only tied the knot in July last year, which officials stated, meant they had conducted a sexual relationship before wedlock.
“The court has accepted the parents’ request to have a birth certificate issued for their daughter,” read the ruling. “English Family Law states that if that the father agrees that the child is his, while he is married, then it is ruled that he is the legitimate father of the child. Therefore, the court has accepted this and agreed to have the birth certificate issued for their daughter.”
Ms Al Sayed said that Bahraini Family Law differs from English Family Law. “If the couple were Bahraini then a swab sample would have to be taken from the husband to prove that he is the father of the child,” she told the GDN.
“However, English Family Law says that if the father acknowledges that the child is his, while he is married to the mother, that that is sufficient. The High Civil Court applied the law of the husband’s nationality.”
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