Challenging Paternity and the Child's Right to Identity: Tensions Regarding Filial Kinship

Abstract

The challenge of paternity, regulated within the Ecuadorian legal system as an action aimed at questioning legally established filiation, raises significant procedural and constitutional challenges when its exercise conflicts with the child’s right to identity, recognized as a fundamental right in the Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador and in international instruments ratified by the State. This article analyzes, from a procedural and rights-based perspective, the tensions between the search for biological truth and the protection of filial relationships, examining the legal limits of paternity challenges to prevent harm to the best interests of the child. Based on an examination of the Ecuadorian legal framework particularly the Civil Code, the Code of Childhood and Adolescence, and national jurisprudence it is argued that filiation cannot be conceived solely as a genetic relationship, but rather as a complex legal institution directly linked to the child’s personal, family, and social identity. In this context, the article proposes a procedural interpretation that prioritizes the effective judicial protection of the child as a subject of rights, requiring justice operators to conduct a comprehensive assessment of each case capable of harmonizing biological truth with the filial bond.