Review article

Parental Responsibility and Blended Families

Sandra Winkler orcid.org/0000-0003-1639-6823 ; Faculty of Law University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia

Abstract

The requirements of the modern world impose the need to regulate the complex family relationships between persons who live in blended families. There are many open legal issues regarding blended families; nevertheless, this paper focuses exclusively on the analysis of the relationship between the child and the new spouse or partner of the child's parent, in its factual and legal dimension. It will first take into consideration the concept of the social parenthoodin the context of blended families. Moreover, the purpose of the research is to relate the concept of the social parenthood to the existing legal models of parental responsibility, by comparing different approaches, which are more or less inclined to recognize not just de facto role, but also the legal position of the social parent in the child’s life. In addition, the Croatian legal framework de lege lata will be analyzed, trying to point out some contradictions. Subsequently, the author will offer some solutions from other legal systems, paying particular attention to French solutions, which could be taken as a model to improve the Croatian solutions. Finally, the author offers possible de lege ferenda suggestions.

Keywords

parental responsibility; parent; child; blended families; family law

Hrčak ID:

191515

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/191515

Publication date:

22.12.2017.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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