PROBLEM OF SETTLING MATERNAL LEGAL STATUS IN HUNGARY

Abstract

The study is intended to present the changed Hungarian regulation related to the maternal legal status and the potential problems arising in connection with it.
The author presents the legal provisions of the maternal status stipulated by the Book Four on Family Law of the Act V of 2013 on Civil Code which entered into force 15th March 2014, including the administrative and judicial channels; furthermore, the study covers special issues in connection with the maternity, such as using incubators, giving birth in incognito and the substitute maternity – surrogate motherhood and problems which may arise in connection with them.
Contrary to the paternity, the maternal status is not based on presumptions because - by the nature of birth - it can be usually decided clearly who the child’s mother is: the one who gave birth to the child. So, the maternity is a matter of fact and it is not a presumption. So, taking the clarity of motherhood into consideration, legislator did not consider necessary to stipulate it in the legal regulation in the past. Now, the Civil Code states that the woman giving birth to the child shall be considered the mother of that child.
This clarification has significance in the assisted reproduction procedure in which ovum donor is used because in these situations woman who gives birth to the child and “the biological mother” are two different people.
The study focuses on the situations when maternal status may be at issue; furthermore, focuses on the methods of arranging these disputes and reasons why the legislator has considered necessary to define the legal definition of maternal status taking into account that the principle of „mater semper certa est“ is not unequivocal in any case.