What are the procedures for claiming support for an out-of-wedlock child in Vietnam according to current regulations?
- Vietnam: What is support? What is an out-of-wedlock child? Do parents have to provide child support for out-of-wedlock children?
- What is the application for claiming support for an out-of-wedlock child in Vietnam?
- What are the procedures for claiming support for an out-of-wedlock child in Vietnam according to current regulations?
Vietnam: What is support? What is an out-of-wedlock child? Do parents have to provide child support for out-of-wedlock children?
According to the provisions of Clause 24, Article 3 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014 explaining:
Support means an act whereby a person has the obligation to contribute money or other kinds of property to meet the essential needs of another person who does not live together with but has marriage, blood or raising relation with the former and is a minor or an adult who has no working capacity and no property to support himself/herself, or meets with financial difficulties as prescribed by this Law.
- From the perspective of terminology: Wedlock is the marriage of a man and woman to become husband and wife. Accordingly, an out-of-wedlock child is a child born when his/her parents are not husband and wife.
- According to the Vietnamese dictionary: An out-of-wedlock child is understood as a child of the parents in case the parents are not husband and wife according to the provisions of law.
- According to the dictionary of Jurisprudence: There is no explanation of what the concept of an out-of-wedlock child is, but only the concept of a child born out of wedlock similar to the concept of an out-of-wedlock child (child whose parents are not married) .
- From a legal perspective: Currently, there is no legal document that defines what is a child in wedlock or an out-of-wedlock child. Pursuant to the provisions of the Law on Marriage and Family, Vietnamese law only recognizes a lawful marriage when the parties meet the conditions for marriage and carry out the marriage registration procedures at a competent state agency.
According to the provisions of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014:
- Parents who do not live with their children or live with their children but violate the support obligation have the obligation to support minor children and adult children who have no working capacity and no property to support themselves. (Article 110 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014)
- Not to discriminatorily treat their children due to their gender or the marital status of the parents; not to abuse the labor of their minor children or adult children who have lost their civil act capacity or have no working capacity; not to incite or force their children to act against law or social ethics. (Clause 4, Article 69 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014)
Thus, parents are obligated to support their children regardless of whether they are in wedlock or out of wedlock.
In addition, when parents evade child support out of wedlock, individuals, agencies and organizations defined in Article 119 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014 have the right to request the Court to force that person to perform their obligations.
What are the procedures for claiming support for an out-of-wedlock child in Vietnam according to current regulations? (Internet picture)
What is the application for claiming support for an out-of-wedlock child in Vietnam?
Dossier to claim support for an out-of-wedlock child will include the following documents:
- Application for support.
Documents proving parent-child relationship:
+ Birth certificate (if the birth certificate has enough names of the child's father and mother - this is the case where the procedure to identify the parents has been carried out).
+ A declaration of registration of recognition of parents and children; evidence proving the paternity or mother-child relationship such as a DNA examination document; written commitment about the parent-child or parent-child relationship, with at least 02 witnesses…
+ Documents proving the conditions for which support is requested:
(ID card or citizen ID card or valid passport or birth certificate or any other document with information to prove that the child is a minor.
The effective Court's decision declaring that a person has lost the capacity for civil acts or has restricted his/her civil acts... or other papers to prove that such person has no working capacity or income to support himself...)
What are the procedures for claiming support for an out-of-wedlock child in Vietnam according to current regulations?
* Procedures for initiating lawsuits: comply with Article 190, Article 191, Article 195, Article 205 of the Civil Procedure Code 2015; Article 53, Article 54 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014; Article 16 Resolution 04/2016/NQ-HDTP guiding the implementation of a number of provisions of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code.
- Step 1: File a lawsuit about claiming support at a competent court
- Step 2: Receive the application processing result
- Step 3: Pay first-instance civil court cost advance at a competent civil judgment enforcement agency and accept the case
- Step 4: The court will convene to take testimony, conciliate and conduct procedures in accordance with the law on civil procedure.
- Step 5: In case, the Court does not accept the request for support, the claimant has the right to appeal to the immediate superior Court for appellate trial in accordance with the law.
Child support petition form Download
In addition, if a parent is required to support an out-of-wedlock child but fails to perform the support obligation, the support requester may request judgment enforcement according to the following procedures:
(Based on Article 31 of the Law on Enforcement of Civil Judgments 2008 as amended by Clause 13, Article 1 of the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Enforcement of Civil Judgments in 2014).
* Dossier for requesting the enforcement of a child support decision: when requesting the enforcement of a child support decision, the following documents should be prepared:
- Petition for enforcement.
- Decide on child support out of wedlock.
(The petitioner can submit it in person or submit it by post to the judgment enforcement agency.)
*Doss-receiving agency: District-level civil judgment enforcement agency according to Article 35 of the Law on Enforcement of Civil Judgments 2008
* Processing time:
+ Within 05 working days: The judgment enforcement agency will check the request contents and attached documents and notify the requester of the refusal of the request or issue a judgment enforcement decision.
+ After 10 days of voluntary judgment execution, if the person with the obligation to support out-of-wedlock children fails to do so, the judgment enforcement agency will enforce the judgment.
LawNet