A family judge in the province of Santa Fe ordered that a nine-year-old boy have two paternal surnames in addition to that of his mother and that article 558 of the Civil and Commercial Code, which establishes that no person may have more than two filial ties, does not apply. This is Judge Marisa Malvestiti, head of the Family Court of San Cristóbal, who faced this situation after the emotional father of the minor dissolved the marriage union and claimed to be legally recognized so that the child, with whom he has been linked for approximately two years, bears his surname. According to the file, the child had been born as a result of an extramarital relationship and years later, the mother confessed to the biological father her doubts that it was her son and not her husband’s, which was confirmed by a DNA test. Local media reported that, in the middle of the judicial process, the minor was heard and during the meetings with the judge and her assistants, the boy said he wanted to keep the surname he had, arguing that his socio-affective father was still visiting him. “Simply applying the provisions of article 558 of the Civil and Commercial Code of the Nation, mainly its last paragraph (prohibits people from having more than two filial ties whatever the nature of the filiation), we would be forcing him to stop having his socio-affective father so that he only has his biological father, “we would be forcing him to stop having his biological father, ” the magistrate said, leaving aside the law.
“Family love, the love that cements and builds bonds and ties beyond blood kinship, cannot be pigeonholed, corseted, in the cold and textual letter of a norm that, I understand, offers a minimum standard, but not unique for people’s lives and their multiple possibilities of forming family systems,” he added. The judge granted the family’s lawsuit declaring that the child is the son of his biological father but without displacing the socio-affective parent and ordered that a new birth certificate and ID be made that reflect the plural family ties of the child.
