Föräldraskapslag

Chapter heading: General provisions.

This provision says the law applies to determining, confirming, and annulling paternity and maternity (parenthood).

A child’s mother is the person who gave birth to the child.

A husband is treated as the child’s father if the child is born during the mother’s marriage, with special rules after the husband’s death and when the mother remarries before the birth.

If paternity is not established under section 3, it is confirmed by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency or a court. The section also identifies who counts as the father in listed situations, including conception and certain fertility treatment cases.

Under the stated conditions, maternity may be established for the consenting woman, but not if the child already has two legal parents or paternity can be determined or established under this law.

The child welfare officer must investigate parenthood in the situations listed, but must not investigate motherhood or paternity in the specified exception cases.

Paternity investigation may start before birth only if evidence of paternity would otherwise be at risk or for another special reason; a child’s sample for genetic testing can be taken only after birth.

Vanhemmuuden selvittää yleensä tietyn hyvinvointialueen lastenvalvoja; tietyissä tilanteissa toimivaltainen on lapsen kotikunnan tai oleskelupaikan alueen lastenvalvoja, ja viime kädessä Helsingin kaupungin lastenvalvoja.

The child welfare officer must hold a consultation when a matter arises that requires determining the child’s other parent, and may also invite the guardian or other legal representative in some cases.

The children’s welfare officer must explain the steps for establishing parentage and the legal effects of acknowledgment. A person who is or may be the child’s other parent must tell the truth when giving information, and this also applies to signing or accepting an acknowledgment and to related hearings.

The child welfare supervisor may obtain necessary information, without secrecy barriers, to determine a suspected parent’s identity and place of residence.

Lastenvalvojan on tilattava oikeusgeneettinen vanhemmuustutkimus tietyissä vanhemmuuden selvittämisen tilanteissa, ja tutkimus edellyttää yleensä suostumusta.

The child welfare officer must explain the examination and its basis before sampling/order, and must promptly tell the person the contents of the expert opinion after it is received.

Parentage investigation must be suspended if a child aged 15 or over requests it.

The child welfare guardian must prepare a parentage-investigation record and include all information needed to confirm or disprove parentage. Certain listed persons may request the full record.

The children’s welfare officer must give an involved person a chance to acknowledge parenthood when parentage seems probable, and must bring a claim for the child in defined cases; for investigations about the birthing mother’s motherhood, no acknowledgment opportunity is given.

Certain people may appeal a child welfare officer’s decision to suspend or restart the investigation of parentage, and the officer must add information about a related claim right and time limit in some cases.

Äitiyden voi tunnustaa henkilö, joka katsoo olevansa lapsen äiti. Vanhemmuutta ei yleensä voi tunnustaa lapsen kuoleman jälkeen, mutta poikkeus on mahdollinen tietyissä olosuhteissa, ja tunnustamislausuma on silloin annettava vuoden kuluessa kuolemasta.

Before birth, parenthood may be acknowledged by a personal declaration, but healthcare staff or a child welfare officer must refuse it in listed cases.

Vanhemmuuden tunnustaja voi peruuttaa tunnustamisen kirjallisesti ennen lapsen syntymää. Synnyttävä äiti tai mahdollinen toinen vanhempi voi myös ilmoittaa, ettei tunnustanut henkilö ole vanhempi. Tunnustamislausuma voi olla vaikutukseton, jos Suomen viranomaisilla ei ole toimivaltaa lapsen syntyessä.

A person may acknowledge parenthood after a child is born by giving a personal declaration to the specified recipient; the recipient must explain the meaning and legal effects first.

Parenthood cannot be confirmed on the basis of recognition unless the required approvals have been given in the situations listed in the section.

The child welfare supervisor must give certain people a chance to be heard about acknowledgment, and may also hear other persons if needed to clarify the matter.

The meeting organizer and certain recipients of statements, approvals, or oral hearings must verify the identity of the people involved using an ID card or another reliable comparable method.

A document must be prepared for recognition and acceptance, dated, include the child’s, birth mother’s, and recognizer’s identification and contact details, and be signed by the recognizer and recipient; if approval is required, the approver and recipient must also sign.

Lastenvalvojan on toimitettava tietyt vanhemmuuden selvittämistä koskevat asiakirjat Digi- ja väestötietovirastolle, kun vanhemmuus on tunnustettu. Äitiyden selvittämistä koskevassa tilanteessa toimitetaan pöytäkirja liitteineen.

Kuolleen henkilön oikeudenomistajat voivat tietyin edellytyksin antaa suostumuksen isyyden tai äitiyden vahvistamiseen ilman oikeudenkäyntiä Digi- ja väestötietoviraston päätöksellä.

A document must be prepared for a person’s heirs’ consent, and the consent does not have to be given in the recipient’s presence.

Digi- ja väestötietovirasto may confirm parenthood when the listed conditions are met.

In Åland, the State Provincial Office handles the tasks assigned by this law to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.

Digi- ja väestötietovirasto may ask a children’s welfare officer for more documents or information, transfer the case, must forward certain documents without delay in a birth-notice situation, must notify parties when the matter lapses, and its decision may not be appealed by complaint.

A child may sue to have paternity confirmed in certain cases, and a man who believes he is the father may also bring such a claim in specified situations.

Lapsella ja tietyllä itseään lapsen äitinä pitävällä henkilöllä on oikeus nostaa kanne äitiyden vahvistamiseksi, tietyin edellytyksin.

Isyyden tai äitiyden vahvistamista koskevaa kannetta ei saa ajaa, jos lapsi on yli 15-vuotias ja vastustaa vahvistamista, eikä asiaa saa panna vireille tai jatkaa, jos lapsi on kuollut. Isäksi tai äidiksi itseään pitävän on nostettava kanne vuoden kuluessa tiedoksi saannista.

In parenthood confirmation proceedings, the children's supervisor usually exercises the minor child's speech right, with limited exceptions; the guardian or other legal representative and the child aged 15+ may also exercise it. The court must hear those persons, and the child’s birth mother if feasible, and the child represented by the children's supervisor receives free legal aid.

If a child seeks confirmation of paternity or maternity, the child must summon the presumed parent as defendant, with limited exceptions.

Service of a summons is governed by Chapter 11 of the Code of Judicial Procedure; public notice service is allowed only when the recipient or their authorized recipient cannot be located and there is enough evidence of parenthood, with the child’s best interests supporting proceedings against the defendant.

Kantajan tulee liittää vanhemmuuden selvittämisestä laadittu pöytäkirja haastehakemukseen, jos vanhemmuus on lain mukaan pitänyt selvittää. Jos pöytäkirjaa ei ole liitetty, tuomioistuimen tulee pyytää se lastenvalvojalta.

When a parentage case is already pending in the competent court, another court must not examine the same child’s parentage question, and the court must transfer the matter to the court where it is already pending.

If a paternity action is brought against several defendants, the plaintiff may withdraw the action as to one defendant if that defendant does not oppose and the court agrees; the court must then leave that part dormant. The court may also dismiss the claim against one or more defendants before the paternity issue is finally decided if genetic paternity testing proves the defendant cannot be the child’s parent.

The court must, on its own initiative, order the evidence it considers necessary to resolve the case. If there is reason to suspect that a non-party is the child’s parent, the court may let that person be heard and may ask the child welfare officer to complete the parentage investigation.

An appeal court may also deal with a parenthood appeal as it concerns a person not covered by the appeal, but normally should not do so without special reason in one excluded situation.

A court must annul paternity if genetic parentage testing or other evidence shows that the man and the child do not have the relationship referred to in section 4(2) or 4(3).

Tuomioistuimen on kumottava Digi- ja väestötietoviraston vahvistama äitiys, jos selvitetään, ettei vahvistetun äidin ja lapsen välillä ole lain tarkoittamaa suhdetta.

Digi- ja väestötietovirasto may confirm that a man is not the child’s father in certain parentage cases, but the application must be filed within one year of the child’s birth and some cases cannot be decided.

The section says who may file a paternity-annulment action in district court and that the action must be brought against the listed people who also have standing.

This section says who may bring an action to annul maternity, and that if a party dies during the proceedings, their heirs replace them.

Only a child aged 15 or older may use the child’s right of action personally. Certain people may challenge paternity or maternity only if the stated conditions are met, and some challenges are barred after written acknowledgment or approval.

Vanhemmuuden kumoamiskannetta ei saa panna vireille, jos lapsi on kuollut tai jos kuollutta 46 tai 47 §:ssä tarkoitettua asianosaisaa koskeva kanne tehtäisiin hänen puolestaan. Jos vanhemmaksi todettu tai vahvistettu on kuollut, hänen puolisonsa ja perillisensä voivat kuitenkin nostaa kanteen 50 §:n 3 momentin mukaan.

Kanne on nostettava määräajassa, yleensä kahden vuoden kuluessa, ja joissakin tilanteissa myös vuoden lisäaika voi tulla kyseeseen.

Tuomioistuin voi antaa kuulemismahdollisuuden henkilölle, joka ei ole asianosainen, jos asiasta ilmenevien seikkojen perusteella on aihetta olettaa hänen olevan lapsen toinen vanhempi.

For cases concerning annulment of parenthood, the competent court is determined by chapter 10 of the Code of Judicial Procedure.

Vanhemmuuden kumoamista koskevassa oikeudenkäynnissä sovelletaan 37 §:ää ja 41 §:ää.

This section says which country’s law determines maternity in different residence and asylum situations, and it gives a special rule for cases involving marriage with the birth mother or consent to fertility treatment.

Paternity is determined directly by law under the Finnish law rules in this section, with alternative foreign-law rules applying in some cases.

Finnish authorities have jurisdiction in parenthood matters if one of the listed residence, asylum, or foreign-court-necessity conditions is met.

Suomen viranomaisen on keskeytettävä myöhemmin vireille tullut vanhemmuusasian käsittely tietyissä tilanteissa, mutta se voi poiketa tästä, jos ratkaisun saaminen muuten viivästyisi kohtuuttomasti.

In a parenthood matter, Finnish law applies unless section 54 or 55 says otherwise.

Foreign parenthood decisions are recognized in Finland unless one of several listed exceptions applies.

Helsingin käräjäoikeus voi hakemuksesta päättää, tunnustetaanko ulkomailla annettu vanhemmuutta koskeva päätös Suomessa, ja sen on tarvittaessa varattava lapselle, isälle, äidille tai muulle henkilölle tilaisuus tulla kuulluksi.

This chapter applies only unless otherwise provided by the law on recognition of Nordic paternity decisions (352/1980).

A foreign law rule must be ignored if applying it would produce a result contrary to the fundamental principles of Finland’s legal order.

When assessing a child under 15 in the listed situations, the child's wishes and opinion must be clarified and taken into account as far as possible.

Anyone who knowingly gives false information to an authority during a parentage determination process, and that information helps lead to an incorrect confirmation of parentage, can be fined.

Cases about determining, confirming, or rescinding parentage must be handled urgently.

A child welfare officer must, on request, give official assistance to another region’s child welfare officer in establishing and confirming parenthood, and must also represent that officer in court and other authorities when handling the matter.

The section sets up prenatal acknowledgment registers, names the registry controllers, allows certain officials to collect and store specified personal data in the register, and lets specified authorities access necessary data for parenthood-related tasks.

This section lets the Government issue more detailed rules on birth notifications and acceptable identity documents, and lets the Ministry of Justice regulate documents for parentage matters; THL approves the form templates.

This section says the law enters into force on 1 January 2023 and repeals the Paternity Act and the Maternity Act.

This section says the law can apply to paternity and maternity for children born before the law entered into force, with one exception and one date-based condition.

If parenthood was recognized before this Act took effect, earlier rules apply to recognition and related matters; earlier rules also apply to parenthood determination if the child was born and the related negotiation happened before commencement.

Pending maternity or paternity confirmation cases are handled under the rules in force when the case was filed, and a paternity case cannot be dismissed on the stated transitional ground.

A mother cannot start a paternity-disestablishment claim if the child was born before 1 October 1976. For cases already pending when the law takes effect, the rules that applied when the case was filed continue to apply, and a court may not dismiss the case just because both the birth mother and the husband have died.

Certain children born outside marriage before 1 October 1976 generally have no inheritance right from the father’s side in the stated situation, but some exceptions allow inheritance and any such right must be put into effect by the deadline in the Inheritance Code.

If another law or regulation refers to a provision that has been replaced by this Act, the corresponding provision of this Act applies after the Act comes into force.