Law / Alimony and child support - Polish wife seeking divorce [15]

@Lenka
I found out today that "alimenty" in the Family and Guardianship Code (Kodeks rodzinny i opiekuńczy, USTAWA z dnia 25 lutego 1964 r.) does mean maintenance obligation to the ex-spouse (whether she is a criminal or not...wow!).

Art. 60.
§ 1. Małżonek rozwiedziony, który nie został uznany za wyłącznie winnego rozkładu pożycia i który znajduje się w niedostatku, może żądać od drugiego

So it is guaranteed she will milk him for 5 years minimum...and likely more. Long live the at-fault divorce laws....grrrr!
Can anyone please prove me wrong? It's looking pretty bleak at the moment.

Law / Alimony and child support - Polish wife seeking divorce [15]


But from a point of view of convenience - as in the mother not having to have the father's consent for decisions regarding the child - would that not be somewhat logical given that she will have sole custody? Other way to ask the question is - what are typically the rights of a foreign based father if the mother resident in Poland has sole custody? Do the courts allow visits visits to the father's place for longer term (say all of summer vacation every year and Christmas every other year) to make up for the lack of short term visitations? Singapore laws are pretty similar to the UK common law so not much help comparing to that. Cousin has been talks with a lawyer there but gets increasingly frustrated by the arbitrary nature of rulings there - no payment estimates for maintenance obligations, no effect given to precedence as regards foreign non-custodial parent's rights, no effect of the mother causing an abduction that is a criminal act in the place where the child was living etc. Maybe its due to the folks he's been talking to...who knows. The more I read about Polish family law decisions the more I wonder - why would not every woman want a divorce there??

As regards the statement, "but as they grow older, boys need contact with their father" - is this position taken specifically by Polish courts? When do they consider the boy needs a change of parenting plan? Further to the point, is that position applicable to fathers who are based overseas? Or does the overseas based part obliterate the father part from a protectionism angle and nothing really changes in the parenting arrangement even as the boy grows up? Nephew is 4 and a half now.

I spoke to my cousin today and he is quite prepared to formally end the relationship with the wife, but the son is a whole another matter...

Law / Alimony and child support - Polish wife seeking divorce [15]

@cms neuf

So the lawyer told my cousin today that he might be able to get a custody order that allows him to take his to Singapore for summer holidays every year. However, she also cautioned that the judge may see the mother's opposition to that as valid and instead ask the father to visit the son in Poland and let him have the son with full custody for the time he will be able to be in Poland (leave from work, other commitments etc.).

Doesn't this sound far too wide for a reasonable range of outcomes? I mean can sole custody to mother be shifted temporarily to the father like that??

Law / Alimony and child support - Polish wife seeking divorce [15]

@Lenka

Thanks Lenka. The agonising part is that the lawyers seem to cast such a wide net that nothing can be anticipated, let alone expected. Why do you think taking the child out of Poland will be problem for the court? The same happens here in Singapore quite often. Unless the father has a criminal history, or in serious financial trouble - the courts view the time away with the other parent as a valuable balance in the child's life. Is it different in Poland?

Law / Alimony and child support - Polish wife seeking divorce [15]

@pawian

Do courts in Poland work on the basis of fear or evidence?

Second point - the child was at all taken back to his home jurisdiction and retained there - how will that become abduction? That makes it a homecoming. Abduction was what the mother did by unilaterally removing the child from the family home in Singapore. When the Policja recovers stolen goods from a thief - does Poland's constitution consider taking it away from him is stealing, or serving justice?

Law / Alimony and child support - Polish wife seeking divorce [15]

@delphiandomine

As the original post states quite clearly, the child was abducted to Poland without the father's consent. Is it so that the Polish court requires both parent's consent or a court decree in lieu, only if the child is removed from Poland, but have no problem if the child was brought to Poland on one parent's consent? The shambolic record that Poland has in returning abducted children from Poland is perhaps a sad reminder of how some countries can happily play dual standards and get away with it forever...

From a more practical standpoint - if the mother (who committed a crime by abducting the child out of Singapore) objects to let the father take the child to Singapore for holidays, does the court not ask for a reason?? Or just the criminal's wish is paramount simply because she is Polish? What message do the Polish courts send out to potential abductors in such an disgusting predisposition ??

PS - Please do not refer to European courts. Western European countries do not harbour criminals just because they are citizens of that country...INCADAT contains plenty of evidence in support of that. Polish courts are different.