For some time now, the figure of the parental coordinator has been talked about more and more often, especially as a result of a judgment handed down by the High Court of Justice of Catalonia on February 26, 2015.
This is a pioneering judgment, which implements for the first time in Spain the figure of the parental coordinator as an assistant to the judge and families in the management of their breakup.
What does this figure entail and in which cases is it used?
What is its origin and how can it help in a conflictive divorce situation?
What is the parental coordinator?
The figure of the parentality coordinator emerged in the 1990s in the United States and Canada for the normalization of parental relationships after marital or couple conflict, in contexts of serious conflict for various reasons, in which minor children are involved.
It is based on the premise that, after the breakdown of a marriage and the subsequent judicial decisions, changes in the organization of family life arise that require precise adaptation and loyal collaboration between the parents so that the new situations affect the emotional stability of the children as little as possible.
The spouses are not always in a position to offer this collaboration, resulting in conflictive situations in the regime of compliance with the sentences that require a continuous intervention of the courts with the limitations of all kinds, in particular, procedural that entails.
In these systems, the parentality coordinator is presented, in this sense, as an assistant or collaborator of the judge in the effective implementation of the new measures, with powers of conflict management, mediation and redirection of the family towards the normalization of the new situation in a peaceful climate that allows the family to accept the new guidelines in a reasonable time and be able to self-manage them.
In some cases, the coordinator can make binding decisions for the family.
It is organized under the principles of specialty, neutrality, efficiency and confidentiality, except for the information to be given to the court.
How is this figure applied in Catalonia?
To date, this figure does not have a specific regulation in the Spanish legal system or the Catalan Civil Code detailing the terms in which its role should be developed, although it has a perfect legal framework according to different laws and legal texts, both at the regional, national, European and international level.
Thus, as stated in the report drawn up by the Parentality Coordination Service of the Judicial District of Sabadell, there is legal protection in the Organic Law 1/1996 on the legal protection of minors (state), reflected in Article 236-3 of the Civil Code of Catalonia, where it is stated that the judicial authority can provide for the appointment of a professional to intervene in conflictive cases in order to avoid harm to minor children who are immersed in disputes, tensions, conflict of loyalties and intransigence derived from the breakup of their parents.
On the other hand, the state legal framework within which the figure of the parental coordinator is framed is found in all the regulations that reflect the best interests of the minor: the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Magna Carta, the LO 1/1996 on the legal protection of minors, etc.
In summary, the legal basis is found in:
- Universal Convention on the Rights of the Child (arts. 3.1 and 4).
- 1996 European Convention on the Rights of the Child [art. 6 a)].
- Spanish Constitution (art. 39).
- European Regulation 2201/2003 and Hague Conventions of 1980 and 1996.
- Organic Law 1/1996, of January 15, 1996, on the Legal Protection of Minors, amending the Civil Code and the Civil Procedure Law, which introduced art. 158 CC.
- Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia (art. 17).
- Civil Code of Catalonia (art. 211-6, 233-10.4, 233-13 and 236-3 and Additional Provision Seven).
- Law 14/2010, of May 27, 2010, on the Rights and Opportunities for Children and Adolescents (arts.38, 39, 81 and 116.3).
Moreover, as stated in the 2015 judgment, judges are not unaware of “the problem that the parentality coordinator tries to solve in comparative law; that is, the effective implementation of judicial measures affecting personal relationships between the conflicting family in the most consensual and peaceful way possible”.
Thus, the aim of this figure is to achieve a continuous and forced intervention of the courts in these cases, since they “are not usually able to solve this special problem with the classic means of execution (warnings, fines, or the intervention of the public force)”.
In fact, the judgment points out that, in the enforcement phase of family law judgments, there is an “obsolescence of the procedural instruments offered by the Civil Procedure Law to solve the controversies that arise”.
In response, the Court sees an open door to the use of this figure despite its lack of specific regulation, based on the fact that “our law, both the state law and the civil law of Catalonia -more evolved on this point- do not treat family proceedings as the other ordinary civil proceedings where private claims are aired”.
On the contrary, in relation to this type of proceedings, the powers of the judge are broadened, in order to guarantee the interests to be protected, among which the best interests of the minor occupy a prevalent position.
All this change of tendency makes the sentence we refer to validate (despite the absence of explicit regulation) the introduction of the figure of the parental coordinator: “For these reasons, the increasingly relevant role of the intervention of non-legal professionals, specialists in the matter, as evaluators of the family situation and advisors to the court or even in conflictive cases as supervisors of the measures adopted judicially in the exercise of the parental powers of the parents in relation to the minor children, has been noticed”.
In what cases can a parental coordinator exist?
The parental coordinator, according to the sentence, must have, in order to carry out his work, the following: – Powers to hold interviews with the parents, with the minors, with the members of the extended family, teachers and with the psychiatrists or psychologists attending the parents or the children.
– He must try to reach a consensus with the parents on the measures of approximation (timetable, guidelines and conditions for the normalization of the parent-child relationship), which he considers appropriate, informing the Court of the agreements reached by the parties with his intervention or, in case of disagreement, making the proposals of personal relationships or stays of the children with the non-custodial parent that he considers appropriate to the judge of the execution so that the latter adopts the appropriate decision.
– Its intervention must be temporary, so it will cease within three months, unless the judge of the enforcement provides a justified extension.
Finally, it is important to note that the specialist who must act will be one of those assigned to the technical services of the court, but taking into account that the action may not admit delay, given its purpose, if he/she cannot accept and perform the work immediately, the appointment may fall on a professional from the lists provided by the College of Psychologists of Catalonia from among the specialists in parenting.
As for the expenses involved, they must be paid by the parents.
The specific case: conflict in relations
In the case studied in the sentence, the marital crisis of the couple arose as a result of the father’s addiction to alcohol and cocaine.
Due to this, and taking into account the existing situation of conflict and the deterioration of the personal relations of the children with the father, the sentence considered that the agreed regime of personal relations (with visitation rights for the father and custody of the children for the mother) could not be established directly, but agreed that the distribution of stays and visits would be established from the moment in which the paternal-filial relations were normalized.
To this end, the monitoring and support of a parentality coordinator, who would be agreed upon by the parties or appointed by the judge from among the experts listed in the census of the College of Psychologists of Catalonia, was provided for.
The father, in this case, refused to apply this figure, alleging that “there is no case law of the Court in relation to the possibility of adopting a support measure through the figure of a parentality coordinator”.
For its part, the woman’s defense considered that the father was fighting this measure -established to protect the minors- “so as not to have to prove his lack of addiction to alcohol or drugs”.
The Court, in response, validates this measure previously adopted by the Provincial Court, giving a free hand since then for its use in divorce cases that require it. If you need a lawyer specialized in Family Law, you can contact me without obligation.
