Status of Children Out of Marriage: A Review of the Law Regarding Marriage and Civil Law

Abstract

This article investigates how Indonesian law, namely the Marriage Law and the Civil Code, addresses children born outside of marriage and their legal consequences. The adopted strategy employs two distinct techniques, the statute, and comparative law approaches, and is a standard legal research technique. The results indicate that the Civil Code and the Marriage Law have distinct regulatory needs (KUHP). Under the Marriage Law, a child born outside of marriage is only considered to have civil ties with the mother and her family. As the heir of the biological father, the child has no rights. In contrast, the Criminal Code addresses the status of children born outside of marriage.