The example of six children, whose parents have been trying for more than a year to make them legally visible, testifies on how complicated a birth registration procedure may be.

Specifically, due to conducting procedures before different state bodies, children of the same parents were registered with different surnames, some with their mother’s and some with their father’s surname.

Thus, the procedure for determination of date and place of birth was initiated before the court for four children, who were born at home. Since the Court rejected the motion, subsequent birth registration procedures were initiated before the administrative body. Meanwhile, the Court delivered summons for hearing, which was totally unexpected, as the motion had been previously rejected.  Also, the initial joint motion was divided into four cases, which were  allocated to a new judge, where one child was left out from the summons.

The Court soon reached the decision on determination of date and place of birth for three children and the father’s surname was determined to them. However, for the fourth child, who did not receive summons for hearing, a decision was reached in subsequent birth registration procedure before the administrative body and with no data on father, since he could not be identified before the administrative body because he did not possess an ID card.

For two children born in a health institution, procedures for determination of personal name were initiated before the competent social welfare centre and it is expected that their surname will be determined based on their mother’s surname.

Even though the rules governing the family relations envisage that children of the same parents cannot have different surnames, at this moment the children of the same parents are registered in birth registries with different data on the personal name and father. Once the father obtains an ID card, it will be necessary to conduct an additional administrative procedure in order to harmonize the data on the father and surname in registries.

The efforts of these parents to register their children, lasting for more than a year, clearly indicate how complicated and lengthy procedures of registration in registries may be, even with legal assistance of Praxis.