Tėvų pareiga išlaikyti nepilnamečius vaikus: aktualūs subjektų klausimai.

Abstract

It is evident from practice that the child’s right to support and its defence largely depends on how the issues of children support entities are settled. Therefore the main aim of this article is to determine through the analysis of law doctrine and court practice the relevant creditor and the relevant debtor in the child support obligation. It is worth mentioning that the answer to these seemingly simple questions is by far not so easy. Undoubtfully, both parents of the child are debtors in the obligation of the child support, however, the opinions part when they have to decide on the starting date when they become debtors and at what extent the retroactive principle may be applied to their duties, arising from this obligation. In this respect two different solutions are possible. First, the formal basis of the origin of the obligation may be stressed – the registration of paternity (maternity) – and consider it as the starting point of the support obligation. Second, it may be considered, that the child support obligation is natural, therefore the parties’ rights and duties connected with it come into existence together with the birth of the child. It is this position that is being stressed in the article. In Lithuania the issue of the creditor in the obligation of the child support has been solved differently in court practice during the last decade. The laws in force previous to the new Civil Code did not provide for the legal status of the child as an independent possessor of property rights. Due to this reason, there was quite an old court practice, when the support used to be given to another father or mother, with whom the child having the right to support lived. However, after the concept of the rights of the child had transformed and after autonomous rights had been granted to the child, the issue of the creditor in the child support obligation has to be revised. The practice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Lithuania, analysed in the article, shows that presently this particular direction is being taken.