Issues Regarding the Assignment of the Custody of Children after the Breakup of Marriage
Issues Regarding the Assignment of the Custody of Children after the Breakup of Marriage
Βy Fani Tsirvoula, Attorney at Law, Ex-Judge, Athens, Greece
Abstract from International Congress on Family and Equality (Drama- Greece, 2-5 January 2009) organised by Men’s and Fathers’ Dignity Association Greece (SYGAPA), website: http://www.sos-sygapa.eu/
The assignment of custody to only one parent constitutes a deviation from the principle of equality of parents in their functional right, placed under juridicial regulation, and it breaches the basic rules of bringing up children based on the conclusions of child psychology.
It also impends the regulating intervention of the court when the child switches to an attitude of refusal or dislike against the non-custodian parent due to actions or omissions of the parent who holds his or her custody.
More specifically, the legislator in articles 1511 and 1518 of the Greek Civil Code attempts to establish certain criteria, so that the judge is assisted in choosing the most suitable parent.
Thus, the article 1511 para. 2 of the Greek Civil Code states that the decision of the court should respect the equality between the two parents in a way that any discrimination based on sex, race, language, religion, political or other convictions, citizenship, national or social origin and property may be avoided.
The equality of both parents, based on the provisions of article 4 para. 1 and 2 of the Greek Constitution, means that the aforementioned attributes of each parent shall not have any effect on the decision-making procedures of the court.
The old view, both in case law and in theory, that the care and custody of young children should be assigned to their mother because of their need for particular attention continues to be highly acclaimed today.
However, for the period subsequent to the first months after childbirth, recent medical and psychological research recognizes the central role of the father in the entire configuration of the interpersonal relationships of the child.
The father not only plays a fundamental role in the psycho-social growth of the child but also constitutes with his behavior a great influence to the child. The father, either due to current working conditions or due to the generally observed frequent change of role distribution between husband and wife in the modern era, can be eminently suitable for the smooth psycho-physical growth of young children.
It is also persuasively supported today that the mother does not necessarily play a more important role for the upbringing of young children than the father.
It is rather the parent that had assumed the main care of the child until the juridicial decision is issued that plays the most central role, in the sense that this parent (be it the father or the mother) has been more connected to the child, and it is important that this bond should not be broken, particularly in the infantile and pre-infantile age.
Consequently, if both parents are required for the psycho-physical and psycho-mental growth of minors, the court should select the parent with whom the child maintains the strongest mental bond.
Abstract translated from English to Greek by Nikos Konidis
© Typologos.com 2012- The Abstract belongs to Fani Tsirvoula and Men’s and Fathers’ Dignity Association Greece (SYGAPA), website: http://www.sos-sygapa.eu/
