The Orphan's Court may restrict your parental access rights, or, where a child has been separated from your family, totally prohibit access to your child.
Appealing the Orphan’s Court’s decision
If your access rights are restricted by a decision of the Orphan’s Court, you may appeal this to the Administrative Court. The procedure and time-limits for the appeal should be indicated in the decision.
Application
In your application to the court, you should:
- refer to the relevant legal provisions that give you the right to request limited or unrestricted access to your child
- explain that exercising parental access rights (with minimal or no restrictions at all) would be in your child’s best interests. In doing so you should describe all the circumstances that are important in proving your claim
- if you believe that you are being discriminated against, indicate that your parental access rights are being restricted only due to characteristics that you possess, such as your sexual orientation, age, religious beliefs, political affiliation, national or ethnic origin or other similar grounds
important Restrictions on parental access rights based solely on one of these grounds will violate the prohibition against discrimination.
- add all relevant documents that substantiate your request, if there are any
note You may also ask for compensation, if you feel that restrictions on access to your child have caused you any material or moral damages.
You can learn more about how to prepare your application in the Administrative Procedure Law.
Read more about your rights in the Administrative Court.
Court’s decision
After examining your claim, the Administrative Court will decide whether the restrictions on your parental access rights should be lifted or reduced. In such case, the court will restore your parental access rights to what they were previously or reduce the applied restrictions. If you have requested compensation, the court may request the Orphan’s Court to provide it.
Requesting a reassessment of restrictions on parental access rights
You may ask the Orphan’s Court to reassess the situation and annul or reduce restrictions on your parental access rights if, after a certain time, the circumstances on which these restrictions were based have changed.
Application
In your application to the Orphan’s Court you should:
- indicate the reasons why the restriction on your parental access rights should be changed
- explain that exercising parental access rights (with reduced or no restrictions at all) would be in your child’s best interests. In doing so, you should describe all the circumstances that are important in proving your claim
- add relevant documents that substantiate your request, if there are any
Orphan’s Court’s decision
After examining your application, the Orphan’s Court will decide whether to annul or reduce the restrictions on your parental access rights.