TITLE V. PATERNITY AND FILIATION. CHAPTER I. LEGITIMATE CHILDREN. ART. 108. Children born after the one hundred and eighty days following that of the celebration of marriage and before the three hundred days following its dissolution or the separation of the spouses shall be presumed legitimate children. Against this presumption no other proof shall be admitted than that of the physical impossibility of the husband to have had access to his wife during the first one hundred and twenty days of the three hundred next preceding the birth of the child. ART. 109. A child shall be presumed to be legitimate, even though the mother should have declared against its legitimacy or should have been convicted of adultery. ART. 110. The child born within the one hundred and eighty days following the celebration of a marriage shall be presumed to be legitimate if any of the following circumstances exist: 1. If the husband knew, before the marriage, that his wife was pregnant. 2. If he, being present, consented that in the certificate of birth his name be given the child borne by his wife. 3. If he has expressly or impliedly acknowledged the child as his own. CHAPTER III. LEGITIMIZED CHILDREN. ART. 119. Only natural children can be legitimized. Natural children are those born out of wedlock of parents who, at the time of the conception of the child, could have married with or without dispensation. ART. 120. Legitimation shall take place— 1. By the subsequent marriage of the parents. 2. By royal concession. ART. 134. An acknowledged natural child has a right: 1. To bear the surname of the person acknowledging it. 2. To receive support from the same, in accordance with article 143. 3. To receive, in a proper case, the hereditary portion fixed in this code. ART. 139. Illegitimate children not in the enjoyment of the legal status of natural children shall only have the right to claim support from their parents in accordance with article 143. ART. 140. The right to support, referred to in the preceding article, can only be claimed 1. If the paternity or maternity is inferred from a final judgment rendered in a criminal or civil action. 2. If the paternity or maternity is shown in an indisputable document, from the father or mother, in which the filiation is expressly acknowledged. 3. With regard to the mother, if the fact of the birth and the identity of the child are fully proven. ART. 154. The father, and, in his absence, the mother, has authority over their legitimate children, not emancipated, and the children are bound to obey them while they remain under their authority and always to show them respect and reverence. Acknowledged natural children and adopted minors are under the authority of the father or of the mother who acknowledges or adopts them, and must also comply with the obligations referred to in the preceding paragraph. CHAPTER II. EFFECTS OF PARENTAL AUTHORITY WITH ART. 155. The father, and, in his absence, the mother, has, with regard to their children not emancipated 1. The duty of supporting them, to keep them in their company, educate and instruct them in proportion to their means, and represent them in the exercise of all actions that may redound to their benefit. 2. The right to correct and punish them moderately. CHAPTER III. EFFECT OF PARENTAL AUTHORITY WITH ART. 159. The father, or, in his absence, the mother, is the legal administrator of the property of the children who are under their authority. ART. 160. The ownership of property which a child not emancipated may have acquired, or acquires by its work or industry or for any good consideration, is vested in the child, and the usufruct in the father or mother who has him or her under his or her authority and in his or her company; but if the child, with the consent of the parents, lives independently of them, he or she shall be considered as emancipated for all purposes with regard to said property and shall own it and enjoy the usufruct and administration thereof. ART. 161. The ownership and usufruct of what the child acquires with the capital of his or her parents is vested in the latter; but should the parents expressly assign to him or her the whole or a part of the profits which he or she may obtain, such profits shall not be chargeable to the latter in the inheritance. ART. 162. The ownership or usufruct of the property or income donated or left by will to a child not emancipated, to cover the cost of his or her education and instruction, is vested in him or her; but the father or the mother shall have the administration thereof if no other proviso has been made in the gifts or bequest, in which case the will of the donors shall be strictly observed. CHAPTER IV. MANNER OF TERMINATION OF THE PARENTAL AUTHORITY. ART. 167. Parental authority terminates- 2. By emancipation. 3. By the adoption of the child. ART. 168. The mother who contracts a second marriage loses her parental authority over her children, unless the deceased husband, the father of the latter, should have in his will made express provision for the remarriage of his widow, and had ordered that in such case she was to preserve and exercise the parental authority over their children. CHAPTER V. ADOPTION. ART. 173. Persons who are in the full enjoyment of their civil rights and have attained 45 years of age can adopt. The adopter must be at least fifteen years older than the adopted. ART. 174. Adoption is forbidden 1. To the clergy. 2. To those having legitimate or legitimized descendants. 3. To the guardian with regard to his ward, until his accounts have been fully approved. 4. To a spouse without the consent of his consort. Spouses may adopt jointly, and, with the exception of this case, nobody can be adopted by more than one person. ART. 175. The adopted may use together with the surname of his or her family that of the adopter, this being stated in the deed of adoption. ART. 176. The adopter and the adopted owe each other mutual support. This obligation is understood without prejudice to the preferred right of acknowledged natural children and of the ascendants of the adopter to be supported by the latter. |