The changes were brought about by Act No. 268/2025 Coll., amending Act No. 89/2012 Coll., the Civil Code, as amended (hereinafter referred to as the "CC"), and other related acts (hereinafter referred to as the "amendment").

Divorce

A fundamental change is that in contested divorces, courts will generally not investigate the causes of the breakdown of the marriage, unless the other spouse claims that there are grounds for rejecting the divorce petition. The court will continue to examine the qualified breakdown if the other spouse claims that the condition in Section 756(2)(b) of the CC has been met, according to which a marriage cannot be dissolved if the divorce would be contrary to the interests of the spouse who did not contribute significantly to the breakdown of the marriage by violating marital obligations and who would suffer particularly serious harm as a result of the divorce, provided that exceptional circumstances favour the preservation of the marriage, unless the spouses have not lived together for at least three years.

The amendment also officially clarifies the designation for the type of divorce previously known as "uncontested" and introduces the designation "agreed divorce." This refers to a type of divorce in which the spouses file a joint petition, or one spouse joins the petition of the other spouse. In this type of divorce, the court does not investigate the cause of the breakdown of the marriage by its very nature.

At the same time, the spouses are no longer required to prove that they have not lived together for more than six months [cf. Section 757(1)(a) of the CC before the amendment].

In divorce proceedings, proceedings concerning divorce will now be combined with proceedings concerning the arrangements for minor children after divorce. The courts with local jurisdiction will then be those which, in the interests of minor children, had jurisdiction over the proceedings concerning their arrangements prior to the conjunction.

The change also affected the amount of court fees for filing a petition to initiate proceedings, which is CZK 2,000 in the case of an agreed divorce and CZK 5,000 in other cases.

Parental responsibility and childcare

The amendment clarifies the definition of parental responsibility in order to more clearly distinguish its individual components – personal, proprietary, and representation of the child. However, the core concept of parental responsibility remains unchanged.

Another very important new feature is the prohibition of corporal punishment of children, which cannot be classified as a means of education in childcare. The legislator states that corporal punishment negatively affects human dignity, is disproportionate and humiliating, and therefore cannot be classified as a means of education. (cf. Section 884(2) of the CC).

The amendment also aims to emphasize the equality of parental care, even in cases where the child's parents do not live together. This is related to a new rule according to which a parent of a child living separately from the other parent has the right to indirect contact with the child, for example by telephone, if the child is not currently in their care (Section 888(2) of the CC). Indirect contact may also be determined by a court decision.

Parents who have divorced can now also enter into an agreement whereby both will care for the child without the court determining the extent of each parent's care. If they cannot agree, the court will determine the extent of each parent's care, taking into account the interests of the child (Section 907 of the CC). This means that there will no longer be a distinction between sole, alternating, and joint custody of the child.

The child may still be entrusted to the care of only one parent. If this happens, the court must also decide how the parental rights of the other parent will be changed – it may restrict, suspend, or completely deprive them of their parental rights. It is now no longer possible to entrust a child to the sole care of one parent without also addressing the parental responsibility of the other parent. However, even in these exceptional cases, the other parent retains the right to see the child.

Child support

When determining the amount of child support, courts will be able to take into account future changes in justified needs, if these can be determined (Section 913(2) of the CC). This reflects the fact that the costs of caring for a child increase in direct proportion to the child's age.

When determining the amount of child support, courts will also consider whether the obligated person receives income that corresponds to the income that, given their health, education, and qualifications, but also taking into account the state of the labour market at their place of work or residence (Section 913(3) of the CC).

It will now also be possible to assign a due monetary claim for child support determined by the court. The aim is to improve the child's economic situation. However, in such a case, the payment must be made by bank transfer and the person acquiring the claim will only acquire it upon full payment (Section 921a of the CC).

Provisional decision

This is a new institute that will be applicable instead of preliminary measures, which will not need to be ordered, but will require rapid provisional adjustments to the child's circumstances. Before a provisional decision is issued, all participants in the proceedings, including minors, will be able to express their views on the matter (Section 465b of the Special Proceedings Act). This means that it will not be possible to order something that one of the participants did not know about and only learned about from the delivered decision.

This institute should find its application in simpler cases where it is necessary to provisionally adjust the child's circumstances and which do not fundamentally threaten the child's interests. Proceedings for the issuance of a provisional decision may be initiated even without a motion, even before the commencement of the actual proceedings concerning the adjustment of the circumstances of the minor.

In this way, it is possible to resolve, for example, temporary issues concerning the child's housing or the arrangement of parental care until a decision is issued in the case itself. 

Procedural changes

In proceedings concerning the care of minor children, it will now be mandatory to include the telephone number or e-mail address of the participants to the proceedings in the motion to initiate proceedings, if known to the petitioner.

In general, the procedural changes are intended to make these proceedings more efficient and expeditious, for example by allowing each party to request only one postponement of the hearing.

Regarding the enforcement of decisions in proceedings concerning the care of minor children, it will not be necessary to order a hearing, and a new deadline has been introduced for deciding the case no later than two months after the commencement of proceedings. Furthermore, the minimum fine is set at CZK 5,000, with the maximum amount of CZK 50,000 remaining unchanged. At the same time, a new possibility is introduced to order substitute care for a person who voluntarily fails to comply with a court decision or a court-approved agreement on the care of a minor child, or an agreement on contact with the child, or a decision on the return of the child, to allow the entitled person substitute care for the child or contact with the child to the extent that was prevented as a result of non-compliance with the court decision or court-approved agreement, or to reimburse the costs reasonably incurred [Section 503(1)(e) of the CC].

The changes are welcome

The changes described above are certainly welcome. Above all, the legislator's efforts to simplify and streamline family law proceedings should be appreciated. Furthermore, greater emphasis is placed on the equality of parents in caring for their children, as well as on the prohibition of corporal punishment of children. At the same time, there is a clear effort to resolve disputes amicably.

Source: legalweb.cz