REMOVING OBSTACLES IN COMMUNICATION WITH THE CHILD

Over time, marital relations between spouses can deteriorate, sometimes leading to divorce. However, personal relationships, conflicts of spouses should not prevent them from exercising their parental rights and fulfilling parental responsibilities, because in Ukraine the family, childhood, paternity and motherhood are protected by the state.

International principles for the best interests of the child also provide that children in the event of a divorce of their parents have the right to maintain regular personal relationships with both their mother and father. But in practice, parents do not always comply with this and even threaten to take the child away. In this article, we will analyze how to protect your parental rights if you live separately from the child.

Establishing a visitation schedule with your child

This issue can be settled between the parents in the following ways:

• in a contractual manner by concluding a notarized agreement;
• body of guardianship and guardianship: in this case, one of the parents has the right to apply to the service for children and families with the requirement to establish a schedule;
• in court: a person whose rights are violated in this case can file a lawsuit with the court to remove obstacles in communicating with the child.

So, a legally enforceable visitation schedule can make it easier for you to exercise your parental rights and fulfill your statutory obligations.

Obligation to comply with the decision of the body of guardianship and guardianship

When making a decision, the guardianship and guardianship body examines the living conditions of the parents, their attitude towards the child and other important circumstances. The specified decision is considered binding, and if a person evades its execution, he may be obliged to compensate for the moral and material harm caused by this to another parent.

Thus, the Service for Children and Family Affairs is authorized to draw up protocols on administrative offenses on the basis of failure to comply with the decision of the guardianship and guardianship body to determine ways to participate in the upbringing of the child and communicate with him by parents living separately from the child (Article 184 of the Code of Administrative Offenses).

Resolution of disputes on this issue by the court

If you have a situation where the father or mother, with whom the children live, by all means impede communication with them, and also evade the decision of the guardianship and guardianship authority, which establishes a schedule for visiting children - the provisions of the Family Code of Ukraine provide for the possibility of contacting court with a statement of claim for the removal of these obstacles.

When considering a case, the court examines in detail the attitude of parents to the performance of their duties, the age and state of health of the child, his commitment to each parent, the state of mental health and the tendency of parents to abuse alcohol or drugs, etc.

Summing up the above, we can conclude that the protection of paternity, motherhood and ensuring the best interests of children are among the highest priority tasks of our state. Of course, the best solution to this issue is an agreement between the parents.

But in the event that the parental rights of an individual are violated, it often becomes necessary to obtain qualified assistance from a lawyer who can explain all the details and fully accompany the case until a positive result is obtained. Lawyers and advocates of Prikhodko & Partners have many years of experience in resolving this issue and will be able to assist you as soon as possible.