Breach of a Father’s Rights as a Result of Adoption of Son in Estonia Pending Paternity Proceedings in Latvia

The European Court of Human Rights delivered on 10 October 2023 a judgment on a matter of paternity involving an international element.

The Facts

I.V., the applicant before the European Court of Human Rights, is a Latvian national living in Riga. In spring 2006 he had a son, born in Latvia, from a relationship. The mother no longer permitted contact between I.V. and his son from January 2007 onwards. Shortly afterwards, I.V. found out that another man had acknowledged paternity and been registered as the boy’s father. I.V. then challenged paternity in the Latvian courts.

While those proceedings in the Latvian courts were ongoing, the mother and child moved to Estonia and the child was adopted in April 2018 by the mother’s new husband. I.V. only learnt of the adoption afterwards and lodged an application in the Estonian courts to have the decision annulled.

The Estonian Supreme Court concluded in 2021 that I.V. did not have standing as the (legally recognised) “father” under Estonian law since his paternity had not yet been confirmed in Latvia. It also explained that, even if I.V.’s paternity were later recognised, that would not retroactively invalidate the consent to adoption of the legal father – that is to say the person registered as the child’s father at the time of the adoption.

Ultimately the Latvian courts recognised Mr I.V.’s paternity and registered him as the father, from the boy’s date of birth to the date of his adoption.

Complaint and Court’s Ruling

Relying in particular on Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights, I.V. complained that his rights had been ignored in the proceedings allowing his son’s adoption and concerning the request to annul the adoption. He argued in particular that his son’s adoption should never have proceeded without his consent as the biological father.

In its judgment, the Court stressed that what was at stake in the present case was not the responsibility of the Latvian authorities, even though the paternity proceedings had lasted for an exceptionally long time in that country, but that of the Estonian State.

It pointed out that the case at hand had to be assessed as a whole, and that its task was to assess whether the Estonian authorities had struck a fair balance between the competing interests at stake, including both the interests of the applicant as well as those of his son.

However, the Court found that the Estonian authorities had shown a significant lack of diligence in relation to the proceedings concerning the adoption, even though they had to or ought to have been aware of the ongoing paternity proceedings in Latvia, given the Latvian authorities’ request, in January 2018, for judicial cooperation.

Subsequently, the Estonian Supreme Court had rejected the application to annul the adoption solely on formal grounds, without taking into account the particular circumstances of the case. The Supreme Court had found that the applicant did not have standing since his legal paternity had not yet been recognised by a final court judgment in Latvia.

The outcome of the proceedings in Estonia had actually led to the applicant’s legal paternity being recognised by the Latvian courts for a limited period only, that is to say until the date that the child had been adopted in Estonia.

The Court concluded overall that the Estonian authorities had failed to identify and examine the particular circumstances of the case and to assess the various rights and interests of the individuals involved, including those of the applicant, in either set of proceedings (allowing the adoption or concerning the request to annul the adoption). There had therefore been a violation of Article 8.