Summary

In the spring of this year, the fundamental question of whether a child can legally have more than two parents arose more acutely. The Supreme Court analysed the matter in an order dated 19 May 2023 in civil case 2-21-7200 concerning an adoption annulment dispute. At the same time, the legislator clarified the regulation of filiation in the draft Family Law Act on marriage equality and the implementation of the Registered Partnership Act, with the amendments coming into force on 1 January 2024.

Legal parenting has hitherto been tacitly based on the two-parent principle, according to which a child cannot legally have more than two parents. Abandoning the two-parent principle would not be difficult in normative terms. To the extent that a parent is legally a person who meets the criteria established by law, it would be sufficient to amend the prerequisites laid down by law. The abandonment of the two-parent principle would also be supported by the argument that the legislator should take into account the social reality in which people live together as a family in such a way that the roles of parenthood are stratified. However, the amendment is opposed by the extreme complexity of the legal consequences involved, and it is questionable whether large-scale changes are essential.

The article first gives an overview of the two older principles and highlights the challenges associated with the implementation of this principle in the context of the development of the legal order and society in general. The article discusses the views expressed in the practice of the Supreme Court, the changes that accompany the establishment of marriage equality and the principles underlying it, and highlights possible approaches and developments in foreign countries in a forward-looking manner.