Legitimacy and Legitimation

A boy is born in Dubai to parents who marry only after his birth, in a ceremony in Mumbai. His father then dies and there is a dispute over the estate. Is the boy legitimate? That depends on whose law you ask: the law of the country where he was born, the law where the parents were domiciled, or the law of the place of the later marriage. Status is the most personal thing the law decides, and when the facts cross borders, the answer turns on choice of law.

In two minutes

Legitimacy is the status of a child born of a valid marriage and legitimation is the process by which a child born outside marriage acquires that status later; conflict of laws asks which country's law decides the status, and Indian law speaks through the Succession Act ss.7, 8 and 100, HMA s.16, HMGA s.6(b) and BSA s.116.

The rest of this chapter

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