Acknowledgement

By acknowledging a child you assume legal parenthood. You don’t need to be the birth parent. This means: The child receives reciprocal right to inherit, a maintenance obligation is established between parent and child and the child will have your family name. You need to acknowledge your child in person at the reception desk in the town hall.

Registering acknowledgement

To acknowledge your child we kindly ask you to make an appointment. The municipal desk in the town hall of Brunssum has limited opening hours at this time. This is due to the measures taken by the central government to combat the spread of the corona virus. By restricting the opening hours to apply for products (daily from 09:00 to 12:00 and on Thursday also from 17:00 to 19:00), the municipality of Brunssum aims to reduce physical contact and in doing so, protect the health of visitors and its own employees. To make an appointment during these limited opening hours, please contact us by telephone on +31 45 52 78 555.

Costs

Your acknowledgement is registered free of charge.

Please bring with you

Valid identification of acknowledger and biological mother, or a copy of such
Approval from the biological mother, hand-written or in person
To register the child under the family name of acknowledger, the biological mother has to be present as well (only for 1st child)

Acknowledgement prior to birth

An acknowledgement during pregnancy is called ‘acknowledging an unborn child’. The advantage is that the legal parenthood is already laid down at birth.

Acknowledgement during or after birth

Acknowledgement can also take place during or after registration of the birth if the birth certificate does not have two names of the parents yet.

For children up to 16 the mother needs to give her written approval.
From 12 years and older, the child must also give its written approval.
From 16 years and older, the child has to be present during acknowledgement.

Family name child

When acknowledging the child, the parents can opt for the family name of the acknowledger. This only applies to the first child from your relationship and must be done prior to or when registering the birth. The biological mother has to come to the town hall as well. Subsequent children will have the same family name as your first child.