Public Justice maintains on its website the prevalence of the paternal surname in the Civil Registry, a requirement eliminated by law in 2017

Madrid

Marisa Kohan@Kohanm

Desde hace más de cuatro años el apellido paterno dejó de prevalecer sobre el de la madre a la hora de inscribir a los hijos en el Registro Civil.The change of law in June 2017 established that "in order to advance gender equality, the historical prevalence of the paternal surname against maternal is dispensed with allowing both parents to be those who decide the order of the surnames". Sin embargo, cuatro años después de cambiada la norma, cuando se busca información en la web del Ministerio de Justicia en relación a la inscripción de los hijos, la información a la que accede el público no es esta.

On its website, Justice affirms that "the Spanish surname imposition system assumes that a person has to take as the first last name of the first of the father and as second the first of the mother", something that contradicts the law.He then affirms that this rule changes "when the father and mother, by mutual agreement, before the registration of the birth of his son, decide to invest the order of the surnames".

El cambio en el orden de los apellidos ya era posible en España desde el año 2000.The law established that in common agreement the children could be put as the first option the surname of the parent and that for this the parents had to request the change of order before a civil judge.

However, this requirement changed June 2017.Since then you can indistinctly choose the order of the surnames of the children without going through the court.The law marks that, in case of disagreement among the parents, it will be in charge of the Civil Registry who decides the order "attending to the best interests of the child".Taking into account that there are no badges, or it will be chosen by draw. La única salvaguarda que incluye la ley es que toda la futura descendencia debe llevar el mismo orden en los apellidos.That is, the brothers must have the same surnames.

A pesar de que desde haca más de 20 años se permite legalmente poner a los hijos el apellido materno como primera opción, fuentes de Justicia afirmaban en abril de este año que tan sólo el 0,5% de las parejas habían optado por esta opción y que este dato incluía a todos los hijos registrados en el Registro Civil.That is, this percentage includes, for example, homosexual couples, where this rule does not apply, so using the maternal last name in the first place remains a rare exception.

This newspaper asked the Ministry of Justice about this incongruity in the public information that facilitates citizens, but at the end of this edition, he has not received any response.

The ECHR condemns Spain

On October 26, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) condemned Spain to compensate a woman who was not allowed to change the order of the surnames of her daughter born in 2005 by being at that time contemplated by theLaw that, in case of disagreement between the parents, the child would first carry the paternal surname and then the mother.

The magistrates estimated that "the automatic nature of the application of the law that prevented national courts from taking into account the particular circumstances of the case in question" is not a "justification valid from the point of view of the European agreement.

The Strasbourg Headquarters has unanimously concluded that there has been a violation of article 14 (regarding the prohibition of discrimination) of the European Human Rights Agreement in conjunction with article 8, which contemplates the right to respect for private life and family.

In the sentence issued, they condemn Spain to Spanish State to compensate with10.000 euros to the plaintiff for moral damage and 23.853 euros on coasts.