Hong Kong Ordinances

PARENT AND CHILD ORDINANCE - SECT 5

Presumptions

PART III

PRESUMPTIONS AS TO PATERNITY AND LEGITIMACY

(1) A man shall be presumed to be the father of a child-

   (a)  if he was married to the mother of the child at any time and if there
        arises by virtue of that marriage a presumption of law that the child
        is the legitimate child of that man; or

   (b)  where no man is presumed to be the father under paragraph (a), and
        subject to section 10(3), if he has been registered as the father of
        the child by an entry made after the commencement of this section in
        any register of births kept by the Registrar of Births and Deaths
        under any Ordinance.

(2) Any presumption under subsection (1) may be rebutted by proof on a balance
of probabilities.

(3) The presumption of law as to a child's legitimacy arising by virtue of the
marriage of the child's mother at a time related to the conception or birth of
the child may be rebutted by proof on a balance of probabilities.

(4) Subsection (1)(a), and the presumption referred to in subsection (3),
shall apply in the case of a void or voidable marriage as they apply in the
case of a valid marriage. (Enacted 1993) [cf. 1986 c. 9 s. 5 Scot]