Disownment occurs when a parent, sibling or a relative renounces or no longer accepts achild or a relative as a family member. Disownment might be due to actions perceived as reprehensible or lead to severe emotional consequences. Different from giving a child up foradoption, it is asocial andinterpersonal act and may take place later in the child's life, which means that the disowned child would have to make arrangements for future care. Among other things, it implies no responsibility for future care, making it similar todivorce orrepudiation (of a spouse), meaning that the disowned child would have to find another residence to call home and be cared for.
Disownment may entaildisinheritance, familial exile, orshunning, or all three. A disowned child might no longer be welcome in their former family's home or be allowed to attend majorfamily events. Conversely, a child might themselves seek to disown their parents or family through some form ofemancipation.
In some countries, disownment of a child is a form ofchild abandonment and is illegal when the child is a minor. Some countries condition a legal right of disownment within the family on evidence of specific familial conditions, such as an absence of normal familial ties (required inAustria), or abuse on the part of the person sought to be disowned (required inSpain).[1]
In Roman law, the rights calledpatria potestas included power of disownment.[2] As to Italian law, see article 224 of the Civil Code.[3] There was a process for disownment amongst theTanala of Ikongo,[4] and disownment was inflicted as a punishment by theantandroy.[5] There was provision for disownment in theCode of Hammurabi.[6] In Louisiana, the right to disown a child was calledaction en desaveu.[7]
In some cases, society and its institutions will accept an act of disownment.
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