New regulatory regime of custody of children in cases of marital breakdown

On one January two thousand and eleven came into force of Law 25/2010 of 29 July, the second book of the Civil Code of Catalonia, on the individual and the family, which regulates, among other matters, relationships parental couple and in the case of split between the parents, being worthy of special mention what regulations called parenting plan and the will of the legislator that the guard is shared between the couple as far as possible.

As for the responsibility of parents for their children in the event of marital breakdown and couples should be noted first novelty is that any proposal has been incorporated into the parent trial as a parenting plan, it is a tool to shape the way they think both parents exercise parental responsibilities, which are detailed commitments assumed with respect to the custody, care and education of children.

Without imposing a specific type of organization, encourages parents, whether the process of mutual agreement as if contentious, to organize themselves and responsibly care for children on the occasion of the break, which should anticipate the criteria for solving the most important problems that affect them. In this line, facilitates collaboration between lawyers of each party with psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, educators and independent to make an intervention focused on aspects related to the break before filing the lawsuit. It also seeks to promote the realization of the agreements, transparency for both parties and the fulfillment of commitments made.

A second new feature is that leave the general principle according to which the failure of coexistence between parents automatically mean that children should be separated from one to entrust them to another individual. Conversely, as a rule introduced annulment, divorce or separation does not alter the responsibilities of parents for their children. Consequently, these responsibilities remain, after the break, the shared character and corresponds to the courts to determine, if there is no agreement on a parenting plan or if not approved, how to exercise parental responsibilities and, in particular, keeps the child, relying on all these character and interest of the child.

It is estimated that, in general, coparentalitat and maintenance of shared parental responsibilities materially reflect the interest of the child to continue to maintain a relationship with both parents. Equality of rights and duties between parents eliminates the dynamics of winners and losers, and promotes collaboration affective aspects, educational and economic. This does not preclude, however, that the courts have to decide according to the circumstances of each case according to the specific interest of the children. This is why the new regulation provides a series of criteria to be weighed together to determine how diet and exercise custody.

The philosophy of the new regulation is to encourage formulas coparentalitat and practice of mediation as a tool to ensure the stability of the relationship after the split between the spouses, and the natural adaptation of the rules change of circumstances, but are considered especially as criteria to determine the individual bears the special relationship of the children with one parent and dedication to the children's mother or father have had before the break.