5.  The applicant was born in 1946 and currently lives in Berlin, Germany.
6.  In 2005 he was an English teacher in a school in Kyiv, Ukraine. At that time he entered into private relations with a married woman living in Kyiv. In 2006 the woman gave birth to a child. Her husband was indicated as the father in the child’s birth certificate. In 2007 a DNA test was performed proving that the applicant was in fact the father of the child. The applicant was not prevented from having access to the child by her mother, who accepted financial support from him on a monthly basis. The applicant bought a car for the child’s mother. In 2011 he wrote a will bequeathing all his property to the child.
7.  The applicant had regular contact with the child until 2015 when the mother informed the applicant that she had divorced her husband and that she had decided to marry a German national and move with the child to Germany. As the applicant opposed the decision to emigrate to Germany, the mother denied him access to the child and prevented him from communicating with the child.
8.  In June 2015 the applicant initiated proceedings before the Darnytskyy District Court of Kyiv (“the District Court”) seeking recognition of his paternity and to have the child’s birth certificate amended accordingly.
9.  During the hearing the mother of the child admitted that the applicant had provided regular financial support and had taken part in the upbringing and education of the child. However, she submitted that the applicant’s claims were time-barred under Article 129 § 2 of the Family Code, which provided a one-year time-limit for such claims (see paragraph 15 below). The applicant contended that he had delayed his lawsuit because he had not wished to disturb the child’s family situation and he had not been prevented from communicating with the child on a regular basis until 2015. Only when the child’s mother had decided to emigrate to another country with the child had he decided to seek formal recognition of his paternity.
10.  On 17 November 2015 the District Court allowed the applicant’s claims, declaring him the father of the child and ordering the amendment of the child’s birth certificate. The District Court considered that the applicant had missed the time-limit for valid reasons. It took into account the applicant’s argument that he had not wished to disturb the family and cause any harm to the child with a lawsuit during the long period when the mother had in fact assisted him in having regular access to the child.
11.  On 3 February 2016 the Kyiv Court of Appeal overturned the District Court’s decision and dismissed the applicant’s claim as time-barred. The appellate court stated that Article 129 § 2 of the Family Code provided a one-year time-limit, which had started to run from the moment the applicant had found out or should have found out about his paternity. The applicant had become aware of his paternity in 2007 when the DNA test had been performed (see paragraph 6 above); however he had applied to the court in 2015 (see paragraph 8 above), which had been too late.
12.  The applicant appealed on points of law, arguing that the Court of Appeal had applied the statute of limitations without duly taking into account the reasons for which he had delayed his action and without examining the child’s interests.
13.  On 13 July 2016 the Higher Specialised Civil and Criminal Court dismissed the applicant’s appeal on points of law, without examining whether the applicant had provided valid reasons which could justify his non-compliance with the time-limit set out in Article 129 § 2 of the Family Code.