Hello, I am 17 years old and I am pregnant. I will give birth to a baby a month before my 18th birthday. The child’s father is an adult. We decided to live out of wedlock for at least a year until we sorted everything out because the pregnancy was unplanned and we haven’t managed everything yet. Now I am interested in the moment when we go to register the birth of the child, will there be any problems with me being a minor, not being married and can I get custody of the child together with the father if I did not ask for a court certificate of maturity and ability to work. Thank you in advance!

According to the Family Act, paternity can be acknowledged on the record before the registrar, social welfare centre or court. These bodies will then submit a copy of the record to the registrar responsible for registering the child in the birth register. 

Therefore, it is enough for you and the child’s father to go together to the Social Welfare Centre competent for the place of residence. 

Family Law regulates in Article 114 the so-called suspension of parental care due to legal obstacles, in cases when the child’s parent is a minor or a person deprived of legal capacity in the part in which a person is unable to exercise parental care. 

This effectively prevents the minor parent from representing the child independently in relation to decisions relevant to the child EXCEPT for determining the child’s personal name. 

In practical terms, this means that you, as a minor parent, will only be able to give the child a name, and for all other tasks related to, for example, registration of residence, representation in court, deciding where the child will live, etc., the legal representative for your child will be in charge, and that representative will be appointed by the court or the social welfare centre. 

What is important to know is that Article 114 also regulates the case if you do not agree with the important decisions made for your child by the appointed legal representative; you as a parent have the right to appeal to the court which will then decide in a non-litigious procedure.

The suspension of the exercise of parental care due to legal obstacles ceases when the reasons for which the exercise of parental care was suspended cease to exist. 

Therefore, when you turn 18 or gain legal capacity by concluding a marriage, the suspension of parental care due to legal obstacles ceases to be imposed and you acquire full parental care.

Hello,

I am 16 and a half, I have been in a relationship for two months with a boyfriend who will turn 21 in the middle of February. My parents are divorced and I live with my father. My father is forcing me to break up with my boyfriend otherwise I will end up in a juvenile correctional facility and he will be sued for raping me because he did not ask him for permission to have intercourse with me, regardless the fact I agreed to everything myself. I wonder if my father can so easily put me in a juvenile correctional facility for no reason and sue my boyfriend if I myself agreed to have intercourse with him. What are the laws, considering I am 16 and a half and he is going to turn 21?

Hello, 

regarding your inquiry we state the following: 

According to Article 153 of the Criminal Code, the criminal offense of rape exists if someone, using force or threat, with another person, without his / her consent, commits sexual intercourse or an equivalent sexual act, for which a prison sentence of one to ten years is provided. 

Please note that the consent of another person is considered to exist if he or she voluntarily decided to have sexual intercourse or a sexual act equated with it and was able to make such a decision. 

As you have voluntarily consented to sexual intercourse, and you are able to give the said consent, given your age, it is clear that in your case there are no elements of the criminal offense of rape and your partner cannot be punished for the same. 

Article 158 of the Criminal Code stipulates the age of fifteen as the age limit for voluntary consenting to sexual intercourse. 

Furthermore, Article 159 of the Criminal Code regulates the criminal offense of sexual abuse of a child over 15 years of age, which exists if a person entrusted with care, teaching or custody of a child commits sexual intercourse with a child who has reached 15 years of age. However, these are situations of sexual exploitation of a child over the age of 15 by persons who should take care of the child, such as family members, and since this is not the case with you, there are no conditions for criminal prosecution. 

Finally, you do not have to be afraid that your father will put you in a “juvenile correctional facility” since your behaviour is not illegal, and therefore not punishable, especially considering that your father cannot decide on it arbitrarily, such actions require certain procedures and decision by the competent institutions.

I want to know whether I have the right to change my social worker because I am not satisfied with his work. What is the procedure and where can I report his inappropriate behaviour? Thank you!

Pursuant to Article 20 of the Social Welfare Act (Official Gazette, No. 157/13, 152/14, 99/15, 52/16, 16/17, 130/17) a beneficiary of rights in the social welfare system who is not satisfied by the provided service or procedure by individuals performing social welfare activities may file a complaint to the director or other responsible person in the social welfare institution, responsible person in the religious community, other legal entity providing social services, entrepreneur, i.e. other natural person performing social welfare activities. The director and other responsible persons of the service provider referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall without delay act upon the complaint and notify the user in writing of the measures taken no later than fifteen days from the date of filing the complaint. If the user is not satisfied with the measures taken, he/she can submit a complaint to the Ministry regarding the work of the service provider. If the complaint is legitimate, the Ministry will instruct the service provider on how to proceed and set a deadline within which the service provider is obliged to submit a notification of the actions taken.

Hello, my husband and I are divorcing, we have a court hearing on January 9th 2019, we have a one-year-old child together and we will have joint custody, he is working and living abroad, I am unemployed.  I wish to know how I can get custody. I plan on finding employment after the court hearing.

Parents have joint parental care only if they have jointly completed a joint parental care plan approved by the court. If they failed to complete the said plan, the court makes a decision with whom the child will live, meetings and socializing and alimony, then that parent is awarded parental care. If the father is abroad and is unable to meet the content of his parental care, the mother may seek independent parental care from the court.