Act No. 996, 4 April 1988
Annual Review of Population Law 16: 61
1989
ISSN/ISBN: 0364-3417 PMID: 12344486 Document Number: 378841
This Act amends the Bolivian Family Code in the following ways, among others: 1) it adds to the Code the language that "All family members will enjoy equal legal treatment in the regulation of marital relations and filiation, as well as in the exercise of parental authority and in other similar situations; all discriminatory reference or criterion incompatible with the essential value and dignity of human beings will be eliminated"; 2) it requires the person celebrating the marriage to read to the spouses provisions of the Family Code relating to the equality of the spouses, their common rights, and community property; 3) it provides that a spouse in a situation of need after a divorce has been granted on the ground of more than 2 years' separation has a right to support; 4) it provides that, upon divorce, minor children are to remain under the authority of the parent who offers greater guarantees for their care and moral and material interests, with the other spouse contributing to support in accordance with his or her means in a manner indicated by a judge; previously, children under 7 years old, in general, remained under the authority of their mothers, and older children remained under the authority of their fathers; 5) it sets a statute of limitations of 5 years for challenging the recognition of a child; 6) it authorizes a court to declare maternal, as well as paternal filiation; and 7) it eliminates as a specific means of disproving paternity the fact that the mother had sexual relations with another person at the time of conception.