Filenews 5 October 2022
Before Christmas, the bills for the revision and modernization of the legislative framework governing family law are expected to be brought to the Plenary session of the Parliament for a vote.
This was said on Wednesday, during the debate in the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs, with the Minister of Justice and Public Order, Stefi Drakou, assuring that in three weeks' time the revised texts will be brought before MPs.
It is noted that the proposed regulations concern marriage and divorce, the relations between parents and children, while a specific framework is introduced regarding divorce by mutual consent.
As mentioned in the session with the passage of the bills, the time period that must elapse between the notification of the intention to divorce to the Bishop and the registration of the divorce action is reduced from 3 months to 6 weeks, while the simplification of the procedure by providing the option of electronic registration of the notification remains.
It is noted that this law excludes from this mandatory procedure cases in which the alleged ground for divorce is the invisibility of the spouse, the serious mental illness of the spouse, while the bill introduces the additional exception, when the reason invoked is the strong breakdown, due to violence in the family.
During her speech at the session, Ms. Drakou stressed that the changes in family law focus on a more child-centred reform, based on the best interests of the child.
He also said that the changes are aimed at simplifying the procedures, adding that all the suggestions of those involved, heard at the beginning of the discussions, have been adopted in their entirety.
In the meantime, according to Stefi Drakou, the reasons for divorce will be the same for all religious groups, explaining that the reasons for divorce mentioned in the Constitution will be deleted from the Constitution, among which are the reasons of the Statute of the Church as was the recommendation of the Pancyprian Bar Association and some political forces.
He explained that "with the adoption of this proposal, the same grounds for divorce, which will be concentrated in the Marriage Law, will now apply to all citizens, regardless of whether someone belongs to the Greek Orthodox Church or whether he has entered into a religious or civil marriage."
Moreover, it noted that provision is introduced to enable the Court, at the request of a party or whenever a minor participates in the proceedings, to order a hearing or part of it to be held behind closed doors, in order to safeguard the privacy of the parties and the child.
The Minister of Justice mentioned, in fact, that a proposal has been adopted that has been submitted, in order to provide the possibility through the same application, for any family dispute, to start the procedure for other family disputes between the same parties, that is, with the application for divorce to begin and the process of parental responsibility, maintenance, as well as property disputes.
With regard to divorce by mutual consent, the competent Minister stated that the Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of the Child has expressed a different opinion on whether it should be mandatory to issue a decision on matters of custody and contact with the children, at the same time as the divorce is issued.
