HW Legal
What Happens If Parents Do Not Comply with a Court Order Concerning a Child?
What happens if parents – or one of them – fail to comply with a court order regulating the care of a minor child?
Parents may separate or divorce and have a court-approved parenting arrangement in place. Over time, however, they may stop following that arrangement. Sometimes both parents agree to a different arrangement; in other cases, one parent disregards the court order unilaterally. What are the legal consequences?
Court Orders Regulating a Child's Arrangements
When Does the Court Decide on a Child's Arrangements?
If married parents wish to divorce, the court must first determine how each parent will care for the child before the marriage can be dissolved.
Without such a decision, a divorce cannot be granted.
Where the parents agree on all issues, the court may approve their agreement, provided that it is consistent with the child's best interests.
In the case of unmarried parents, the court will decide on arrangements concerning their common child if the parents cannot reach an agreement themselves.
What Does the Court Decide?
The court's decision will regulate the child's arrangements. In particular, the court may:
- place the child in the sole care of one parent, in alternating care, or in joint care of both parents (in exceptional circumstances, the child may be placed in the care of another person, such as a grandparent);
- if the child is placed in the care of one parent, regulate the contact rights of the other parent by establishing a schedule for regular personal contact between the child and the non-residential parent;
- determine child support.
It is important to note that even in cases of alternating care, child support obligations are often imposed on both parents because child support is a right belonging to the child rather than to either parent.
Where the child is in the sole care of one parent, child support is generally paid only by the other parent, usually to the residential parent. We discuss child support and its calculation in more detail in our related article.
What If One Parent Fails to Comply with the Court Order?
One Parent Refuses to Hand Over the Child
If one parent refuses to hand over the child in accordance with an alternating care arrangement or a contact schedule, the other parent may seek judicial enforcement of the court order.
Before enforcement proceedings begin, the court will usually issue a formal request requiring voluntary compliance with the obligations imposed by the judgment.
If the parent still fails to comply, the court may order enforcement by imposing a fine. Each individual fine may be as high as CZK 50,000 and may be imposed repeatedly where appropriate.
If warnings and fines do not result in compliance, the court may, in exceptional circumstances, order the removal of the child for the purpose of enforcing the judgment.
Such removal is typically carried out by court enforcement officers and may involve the participation of a child protection authority representative (OSPOD), police officers, municipal police officers, or judicial guards.
In extreme cases, a parent who persistently refuses to hand over a child may be found guilty of the criminal offence of Obstruction of the Execution of an Official Decision under Section 337(4) of the Czech Criminal Code, punishable by imprisonment for up to one year.
One Parent Refuses to Pay Child Support
If a parent fails to pay child support despite being ordered to do so by a court judgment, the other parent may enforce payment of the outstanding child support on behalf of the child through enforcement proceedings.
In addition to arrears, future child support payments may also be enforced in advance, up to an amount corresponding to five times the total annual child support obligation.
The enforcement officer then pays the collected amounts to the child (through the residential parent) as each monthly instalment becomes due.
If the obligated parent fails to pay child support for more than four months, they may commit the criminal offence of Failure to Provide Maintenance under Section 196 of the Czech Criminal Code.
In addition to imprisonment, the court may impose a driving ban.
However, criminal liability ceases if the parent pays all outstanding child support before the court of first instance begins pronouncing its judgment.
Looking for legal support? Consult an experienced Family law Attorney.
What If Both Parents Ignore the Court Order?
It is not uncommon for parents to agree on arrangements that differ from those contained in the court order, regardless of whether the court originally imposed the arrangements itself or approved a parental agreement.
Parents often adapt parenting schedules to changing circumstances affecting themselves or the child. They may also agree to modify child support payments temporarily or permanently, for example because of increased costs associated with the child's hobbies or extracurricular activities.
We strongly discourage long-term non-compliance with a court order.
The reason is simple: if the informal arrangement later breaks down, either parent may seek to rely on the original court judgment.
Example
Before the divorce, a child is placed in the sole care of the mother.
The father is entitled to spend time with the child every second weekend and is ordered to pay child support of CZK 6,000 per month.
The parents subsequently agree that they will instead exercise alternating care, exchanging the child every week. They also agree that the father will stop paying child support.
Several years later, the parents fall out and the mother demands payment of all child support that the father failed to pay.
In such circumstances, the court would likely uphold the mother's claim because the father failed to comply with the child support obligation imposed by the court judgment.
However, if the father could prove that the parents had in fact exercised alternating care for a period of time, the court would likely reduce the amount owed accordingly.
At the same time, the court might also conclude that the mother should compensate for the fact that she was supposed to provide the majority of the child's day-to-day care under the judgment but did not do so.
What Should You Do If the Existing Arrangement No Longer Works?
The best solution is usually to apply to the court immediately for a modification of the child's arrangements.
This may involve:
- an application to increase or reduce child support;
- an application to change the care arrangement;
- an application to modify contact arrangements; or
- a combination of the above.
The parties should then await the court's decision.
If waiting for a court decision is not practical and the parents agree on a temporary arrangement that differs from the judgment, we recommend informing the Child Protection Authority (OSPOD) about the situation.
Even in such cases, it is generally advisable to submit an application to the court seeking a formal modification of the child's arrangements.