A ruling that changes the game in conflictual separations

Just before the start of the summer recess, the Cour de cassation caused a stir with a ruling that has been the talk of the family law bar – and must not have left the ten or so family judges in the Jaf department now based at Bonnevoie indifferent either. The court of last instance has effectively resolved a recurring procedural problem that is damaging to families, for which no solution was available until now.

The origins of this ruling lie in the sad story of a broken family. An unmarried couple with two children. The father and mother separate and agree on custody of the children, without going to court – this is not compulsory for unmarried couples. But after eight years, the mother no longer wanted this arrangement and refused to allow the father to see his children. "Our principal was forced to initiate proceedings before the Jaf to obtain a ruling establishing visiting rights, " explains Gil Sietzen, a lawyer at the court, who argued the case with Celia Weber for Rodesch Avocats. "Initially, the emergency procedure resulted in his access rights being maintained, and the judge ruled in his favour. But in the meantime, the conflict situation deteriorated and the judge on the merits decided to take a provisional decision, namely supervised access (in the presence of a social worker or on the premises of an association, editor's note) and a psychiatric assessment of the children."