Efeitos sucessórios da paternidade socioafetiva

Abstract

This work aims at demonstrating the effects of socio-affective parenthood in hereditary succession. This is a current and polemic topic in society and in the national legal establishment, both in Family Law and in Succession Law, due to the social changes that took place in the XX Century, which arose, among several factors, from the Industrial Revolution and from the insertion of women in the marketplace. This led into a change in the patriarchal concept of family, giving rise to a plurality of family nuclei, in which affection is the key constitutive element. The law, as a regulator of social behaviors, tries to keep track of such evolution, especially by the means of the Constitution and Civil Code of 2002. However, parental-bonding, which is the link to define parenthood, is not clearly defined in law. Doctrine and jurisprudence have already been building proper foundations regarding such situation, by considering continuous parental-filial as a determiner of parenthood, which can be performed by a third party, so-called socio-affective parent, even though that party may not have legal or biological bonding. As a consequence of the definition of parenthood, hereditary rights can be claimed. Through the analysis of the Constitution, the Civil Code, and of doctrine and jurisprudence, some clarification about succession rights by socio-affective children is sought.