The purpose of the draft law amending the law – the Family and Care Code and some other laws is to strengthen the position of a minor from the point of view of protecting his or her welfare, to improve proceedings, inter alia, in matters of alimony, divorce, establishing or denying the origin of the child, to improve family proceedings and to strengthen the effectiveness of decisions or agreements on the exercise of contacts with the child, and to regulate contacts with the incapacitated.
The bill assumes, among others, a change in the scope of the divorce judgment by introducing an information procedure as a stage preceding the divorce proceedings. The purpose of the family information procedure would be to reconcile spouses and, in the absence of such a possibility, to conclude a settlement governing, in particular, the exercise of parental authority over joint minors, to maintain contacts between each spouse and their joint minors and child support between them or between them and their joint minors.
Amendment to the ruling on contact with a child
The draft law provides for a change in the ruling on contacts with the child by including in the ruling on contacts such as: the term of the contacts, the duration of the contacts, and, where the contact involves visiting, meeting or taking the minor out of his/her permanent residence, it is also possible for the guardian's court to indicate the place of such contacts.
The project assumes that the contacts set out in the ruling must guarantee the exercise of the right of contact with the child.
The project also assumes that, in the case of contacts with a child outside the child's permanent residence, the court may only permit him to meet in the presence of another parent or guardian or other person designated by the court, in particular a person close to the child.
In turn, the presence of a judicial guardian in contacts is limited to contacts held at the child's permanent residence, understood as the specific address at which the child resides.
The project also provides for the possibility of the judicial guardian to maintain contacts, in order to ensure that contacts are properly made and thus to increase the protection of the welfare of minors. The guardian is then obliged to observe the timeliness of these contacts, without the obligation to be present during these contacts.
Termination of maintenance obligations
The proposed amendment also puts an end to the maintenance obligation on the date of completion of the child 25 years of age. This does not apply, however, to the right to provide maintenance due under the law, but to that established by a court ruling or a settlement approved by the court.
However, if the child has the ability to stand by himself before completion 25 years, the parent will be able to apply for the abolition of maintenance obligations. In turn, if, due to exceptional circumstances, the child is unable to maintain himself, the court will extend the maintenance obligation at his request.
The new regulation is therefore intended to facilitate and reduce the number of maintenance proceedings imposed by a judgment or settlement when the child reaches age. 25 years.
The bill also provides for the introduction of instant alimony institutions. They would be investigated in court proceedings and the lawsuit would be filed on an official form.
The draft also provides for the addition of a § 2 to Article 175 k.r.o. assuming that contact with the incapacitated person is fully governed by the provisions on contact with the child, except for provisions imposing the obligation to maintain contact with the parents.
Thus, it will be introduced to regulate contacts between adult children who are completely incapacitated and their parents or loved ones.
It is intended to protect the interests of the subject by allowing the custody court to request the prohibition or restriction of contact with his or her parents or other persons, if this contact is inappropriate.
The proposed amendments are currently in the process of giving an opinion on the bill, so time will show how they will be eventually implemented.