Is it permissible to register a child's birth before they reach the legal age for marriage?

Reply:According to Article 8 of the 2014 Law on Marriage and Family, the conditions for marriage are as follows:

Article 8. Conditions for marriage

1. Men and women who marry each other must comply with the following conditions:

a) Males aged 20 years and older, females aged 18 years and older;

b) Marriage is a voluntary decision made by both the man and the woman;

c) Not having lost their civil capacity;

d) The marriage does not fall under any of the prohibited cases of marriage as stipulated in points a, b, c, and d of Clause 2, Article 5 of this Law.

Based on the analysis, your girlfriend is under 18 years old. This is an age limit for marriage. Marrying underage is considered a violation of the law. However, if the relationship was consensual and she was 17 at the time, you are not criminally liable for your actions.

* Is it permissible to register a child's birth before they reach the legal age for marriage?

The 2014 Marriage and Family Law defines a child as the common child of a married couple, born before marriage but acknowledged by both parents:

Article 88. Determination of parentage

1. A child born during the marriage or conceived by the wife during the marriage is the common child of the husband and wife.

A child born within 300 days of the termination of the marriage is considered a child conceived by the wife during the marriage.

A child born before the marriage registration date and acknowledged by both parents as their common child.

Every child born has the right to be registered at birth; therefore, this child is fully entitled to be registered. According to Clause 2, Article 15 of Decree 123/2015/ND-CP, the procedure for registering the birth of a child whose parents are unidentified is as follows:

2. In cases where the father is unknown, when registering the birth, the child's surname, ethnicity, place of origin, and nationality will be determined according to the mother's surname, ethnicity, place of origin, and nationality; the section regarding the father in the birth register and birth certificate will be left blank.

3. If, at the time of birth registration, the father requests the procedure for acknowledging paternity as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 25 of the Law on Civil Status, the People's Committee shall simultaneously handle the acknowledgment of paternity and birth registration; the content of the birth registration shall be determined according to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 4 of this Decree.

Accordingly, the husband will then fill out the paternity acknowledgment form and present evidence proving the father-child relationship.

Therefore, according to the above regulations, the procedure for registering a child's birth does not require a marriage certificate from the parents. When registering a birth, according to the Law on Civil Status and its guiding documents, it is not mandatory to go through the procedure of acknowledging paternity before the child can bear the father's surname.

If the father requests recognition of paternity, the procedure is as follows, as stipulated in Clause 2, Article 15 of Circular 04/2020/TT-BTP:

Article 15. Combining the processing of birth registration and the acknowledgment of paternity/maternity.

1. When registering the birth of a child and someone requests registration of paternity or maternity, the People's Committee of the commune where the father or mother resides shall handle both the birth registration procedure and the paternity/maternity registration procedure simultaneously.

In cases where birth registration is combined with registration of paternity/maternity and one party is a foreigner or a Vietnamese citizen residing abroad, the authority rests with the People's Committee of the district where the father or mother (who is a Vietnamese citizen) resides.

2. The application file for birth registration combined with registration of paternity/maternity includes:

a) Birth registration form, Form for registering paternity/maternity/child relationship, according to the prescribed mẫu (template);

b) Birth certificate or other documents replacing the birth certificate as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 16 of the Law on Civil Status;

c) Evidence proving the parent-child relationship as stipulated in Article 14 of this Circular.

Therefore, in this case, the two children will carry out the birth registration procedure for their child and the adoption procedure simultaneously, following the sequence and with the documents mentioned above. They will complete this procedure at the People's Committee of the commune where they reside.