PREGNANCY RESULTING FROM ADULTERY: REFLECTIONS ON THE FRUSTRATION OF PATERNAL AND FAMILY EXPECTATIONS AS GROUNDS FOR LIABILITY AND COMPENSATION

Abstract

This study examines the legal implications and emotional repercussions of pregnancy resulting from adultery, focusing on the frustration of paternal and familial expectations as a basis for civil liability in moral damages. To achieve this, understanding the evolution of the concept of family is essential, which is why the study outlines a historical timeline tracing this precept's development, transitioning from the transformation of the biological family nucleus to affectivity, which enabled the recognition of socio-affective paternity. Following the concept of civil liability in moral damages, the study then analyzes the notion of “Affective Parental Fraud,” characterized by inducing the father into error in civil registration under the guise of biological paternity, resulting in emotional suffering and the breach of loyalty and fidelity principles within the marriage and stable union institutions. Consequently, the study emphasizes legal reparations based on human dignity, the protection of minors’ interests, and the recognition of moral damages endured by individuals who are victims of adultery, whose biological paternity is altered to affective paternity or, in more severe cases, completely nullified.