Belgium sees ‘Delphine effect’ after ‘unexpected success’ | Entertainment

entertainment">“We used to be able to advise illegitimate children fairly easily: don’t start legal proceedings, you don’t stand a chance. Now we have to say: just try, anything is possible. Delphine apparently also had no chance. She opposed all legal provisions, but won in the end, ”said professor and lawyer Frederik Swennen from the University of Antwerp.

entertainment">Delphine is pleased with the recognition ratified by the Brussels Court of Appeal on Thursday. That proved her right after a legal battle that lasted more than seven years against her stubbornly denying father King Albert. She is indeed his daughter and can also use his surname: Van Saxe-Coburg. She hopes, her lawyers reported, that “many children who face the same trials will draw strength” from her victory.

Buddies

entertainment">It has indeed set a precedent, argues The newspapaer fixed. She was able to remove all obstacles step by step, such as the period within which paternity can be disputed and the fact that according to law she already had a legal father, Jacques Boël. “By successfully challenging that, up to the Constitutional Court, she opened the gates to her fellow sufferers,” says Swennen.

entertainment">There are no reliable statistics, but according to lawyer Snow Elfri Hundreds of ‘illegitimate’ children in Belgium have now been inspired by Delphine. According to him, this is a historical change. “Legislation came about in the time of Napoleon. The father was the one who married the mother and no questions were asked. DNA testing did not exist. Once a family formed a legal unit, nothing was changed. Delphine broke that down. The truth of the blood takes precedence over the legal certainty of a family: a child has the fundamental right to know her father. ”

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