Municipality of Hoorn: acknowledging parenthood of your child

If you want to acknowledge a child, the following conditions apply:

• You are 16 years or older.
• You have permission from the mother (if the child is older than 16 this is not necessary).
• For a child between the ages of 12 and 16, permission from both mother and child is required.
• For a child older than 16, only the child's consent is required.
• There may not already be two (legal) parents.
• If you are under guardianship, you need permission from the subdistrict court judge.

Is one of the parents not registered in the Municipal Personal Records Database (BRP)? Then contact the municipality.

To acknowledge the child after the birth, you need to make an appointment. For more information go to Gemeente Hoorn.

• Official acknowledgement and choice of surname are free of charge.
• You can apply for an akte van erkenning (acknowledgement of parenthood certificate) in the municipality where the acknowledgment took place. More information can be found on the Akte aanvragen page.

The acknowledgement cannot always be processed immediately. This depends on the personal situation of the child and the person acknowledging the child. For example, acknowledgement takes longer if the child was born before 1985 or if the person having the child officially recognised does not hold Dutch citizenship.