According to Article 1,604 of the Civil Code, it is not possible to challenge a parentage recorded in the civil registry unless an error or falsehood is demonstrated. It is based on this article that we constantly encounter actions to deny paternity.
However, according to the consolidated understanding of the STJ, it will only be possible to annul the birth registration if unequivocal proof is presented that the father was misled or coerced, and also if there is no socio-affective relationship.
Contrary to popular belief, if socioaffective paternity exists, the registration cannot be annulled. This was the position taken by the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) when ruling on Resp 1,829,093, a decision highlighted in Case Law Bulletin 699, stating that “The discrepancy between biological paternity and that declared in the birth certificate is not, in itself, sufficient to annul the registration act, given the protection afforded to socioaffective paternity.”
