Reason for 'devastating' refusal was because she was unmarried

Joana Niemeyer's partner died just three weeks before she gave birth

Joana Niemeyer had to have DNA tests and pay out thousands because she was unmarried to prove her dead partner was the father of baby Eira (pictured)

A grieving mother has been forced to get DNA tests to get her baby's dead father named on her birth certificate.

Joana Niemeyer, a mother-of-two from Walthamstow, London, was just three weeks away from giving birth to the couple's second daughter before her partner's sudden stroke, aged just 42.

Faced with grief and forced to raise her children alone, she was then told she could not put her daughter's father, David McNamara, on the birth certificate as an unmarried woman.

There were no problems getting Mr McNamara's name on eldest daughter Marlene's birth certificate - but baby Eira-Dee, who was born in July last year, faced having a different name to her big sister.

Ms Niemeyer, 43, said: 'It's the saddest thing that David didn't get to see his own daughter so to be told the space of the father would be left blank was devastating.'

Birth certificate legislation dates back to 1958 and if unmarried, requires a high court to decide whether a baby's mother is telling the truth about who the father is.

The registrar, who was not aware of the law at first, could not allow the unmarried mother to record Mr McNamara's name as father without DNA evidence.

She added: 'The whole process was simply exhausting.

'When you experience the trauma of sudden death your body goes into shock and only lets you deal with the survival tasks.

'Which was looking after myself, my children and not about preparing for court.

'The law has to recognise that not everyone wants to get married.

'But everyone has to have a birth certificate and that certificate should state the truth.'

It took the widow five months to get all the evidence she needed for two court hearings costing thousands of pounds.

The court required a 'humiliating' relationship history, two shared utility bills and DNA from Joana, Eira and David's sister, adding that it cost 'much more' than financial damage.

Ms Niemeyer said: 'Death is the elephant in the room in our society and my daughter had to find out way too early in her life.

'But in David's name I won't let this ruin mine or my daughter's life.'

But Ms Niemeyer had no issue as an unmarried partner when she gave consent for David's organs to be donated, which saved many lives.

Had she been told Mr McNamara's DNA might be needed in the future, a simple request could have been made.

She said she has also received 'endless' support from the charity, Widowed and Young, and her MP, Stella Creasy, who secured a Westminster debate on the issue that went ahead yesterday.

Ms Creasy is eager for the government to change the law to give registrars the power to waive the requirements forced upon families such as Ms Niemeyer's.

Ms Niemeyer's petition to give 'unmarried widows equal rights in registering paternity of their children' has received more than 1,300 signatures.