Child alimony in domestic court practice and the practice of the European Court of Human Rights

Project: Child alimony in domestic court practice and the practice of the European Court of Human Rights

The project will include research into domestic judicial practice and the practice of the European Court of Human Rights. Analyzing the decisions of domestic courts will try to detect the basic difficulties faced by children in alimony proceedings. In particular, it will be investigated: in which type of procedure (main or attachment) the child's right to support is most often realized, in how many cases was a judicial or extrajudicial settlement concluded, in what way does the court determine the amount of child support, to what extent is the guardianship authority involved in these proceedings, whether the guardianship authority sufficiently uses the existing powers, the duration of the proceedings, and how long the children wait for the actual realization of the maintenance claim established by a final court decision.

The research of court practice will also cover the areas of realization of alimony claims abroad with the aim of determining the number of children who are waiting and the time duration of the realization of their maintenance claim from the debtor who resides outside the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as identifying other problems and obstacles encountered by children in the process of realization alimony requests abroad.

The research of judicial practice in the area of criminal protection of the right to maintenance will show in how many cases criminal proceedings have been initiated due to the commission of the criminal offense of evading the payment of maintenance and whether it ended with the imposition of a prescribed or suspended sentence. The research will be the basis for determining the actual scope of the existing legal solutions and indicate the needs and possible directions for their improvement.

An analysis of the most significant judgments of the European Court of Human Rights related to child support and a comparison of domestic judicial practice with the practice of the European Court of Human Rights will provide an insight into the degree of compliance of domestic judicial practice with it in order to avoid disputes against Bosnia and Herzegovina before this Court.

One of the main goals of this project is to stimulate the interest of the scientific and professional public for a broader reasoned discussion on this topic, since the numerous dilemmas that will be pointed out in this research will open up a number of interesting questions for future research.

Project Team:

1 Ph.D. Anita Duraković, project manager
2. M.Sc. Ramajana Demirović
3. M.Sc. Šejla Maslo Cerkić

Project duration: 12 months