Judgment recognizing dual filiation
On 13 November 2024, the Court of First Instance No. 9 of Pamplona/Iruña, by means of Judgment No. 472/2024 delivered by Judge José Antonio González González, judicially recognized and declared the biological filiation of Olmo Gómez Aldaz with full civil effects. That decision constitutes the turning point of the case: for the first time, the filiation of origin is officially declared and ordered to produce the same legal consequences as any other filiation recognized under civil law.
On 12 May 2025, the Third Section of the Provincial Court of Navarra delivered Judgment No. 845/2025 , fully confirming the first-instance decision on appeal. The Court did not introduce a new recognition, but rather upheld what had already been declared and further developed its legal reasoning.
This means something very concrete: a court officially declares who the claimant’s biological father is and orders that this filiation produce real effects in the civil and registry sphere. It is not a symbolic or historical statement, but a decision with full legal consequences.
The central legal issue revolves around the interpretation of Article 180.4 of the Civil Code. Traditionally, this provision had been invoked to argue that the existence of an adoption prevented biological filiation from producing civil effects. Both the first-instance judgment and its confirmation on appeal adopt a different reading.
Article 180.4 of the Civil Code:
“The determination of filiation by nature does not affect the adoption.”
The ruling maintains that Article 180.4 does not prohibit the coexistence of filiations, but rather establishes that adoption is not automatically affected by the determination of filiation by nature. On the basis of this interpretation, it affirms that biological filiation may be recognized with civil effects without the need to annul the previously registered adoptive filiation.
The reasoning includes the consideration that the legal system already grants relevance to biological ties in various areas — such as the prohibition of marriage between siblings and the legal consequences arising from consanguinity — which demonstrates that biological bonds do not disappear simply because an adoption has been constituted.
The result is a situation of dual filiation with full civil effects, without known precedent in Spanish judicial practice and, as far as publicly available information indicates, without record of equivalent rulings in other international legal systems.
Both judgments are final, and the declaration of filiation has been fully implemented in the administrative and registry sphere.
Judgment (PDF)
Anonymized judgment published in the Judicial Documentation Centre (CENDOJ) of the General Council of the Judiciary.