Where the parties have minor children, the issue of parental responsibility and child support should be included in the divorce petition. The divorce court is obliged to issue a ruling in this respect also if the party has not submitted such a request.
The divorce court always rules on parental responsibility over joint minor children, even if there is currently a ruling by another court regulating this issue. The court should also, in the divorce decree, decide on the issue of the maintenance obligation towards joint minor children, even if such an obligation was imposed in a previous decision. This was ruled by the Supreme Court in its judgment of June 9, 1975 (file reference number III CRN 155/75).
In practice, this means that the court deciding to dissolve a marriage is obliged to decide on the issue of the obligation to maintain child support. He is not relieved of the fact that it was regulated by a final judgment prior to the initiation of the divorce case.
In a situation where the alimony has been settled by a final and binding judgment of the guardianship court or a court settlement before initiating divorce proceedings, the divorce court should refer to the previous judgment. Then the court must indicate whether it raises or reduces the maintenance to a specific amount or keeps it at the same level.
If the court decides that there has been no change in relations in this respect, it should state in the operative part that the maintenance payments are specified in the previous judgment. However, in the event of a change in the facts, the adjudicating court may modify the amount of maintenance. However, he cannot do so without referring to the previous maintenance order. In this way, doubts related to the execution can be avoided.
A spouse filing for divorce should apply for parental authority and maintenance, also in a situation where his request is consistent with the content of a previously issued judgment.