Parental rights and rights for the guardianship of the child

The lawyers of Kalashnikov Law Office remind that in Estonia the relations between children and parents are regulated by Family law and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. As long as a child is not able to make decisions on his own due to his age, parents or guardians do it for him/her.

A parent has the obligation and right to take care of his/her underage child. The Family law states that the right of guardianship of a parent includes the right to care for the child’s personality, the right to care for the child’s property, and the right to make decisions on child-related matters. Parents have joint guardianship in respect of their child. The parents who have this right are the legal representatives of the child.

When the parents cannot reach consensus on a substantive issue related to the life of the child, or one parent is of the view that it is in the child’s interest to limit the right of the other parent to decide on certain matters, the court may, at the request of one parent, grant him/her the right to decide on one particular, several or all matters which are important for the child.

The parent has the right to represent the child and to decide all important issues individually when:

• he/she has exclusive rights for the guardianship of the child
• he/she has been given by the court the right to decide on one particular or all matters related to the life of the child
• in the case where the expression of the joint will of the parents may cause delay contrary to the interests of the child

In making decisions concerning the child, parents should take into account the interests of the child, his age and abilities. The court has the right to extend the legal capacity of an underage child to carry out certain transactions to which the parental right of guardianship will not apply. The court may change an earlier decision if there are strong reasons for doing so.

The Family law establishes that the right for the guardianship of a personality also includes the right to determine those third parties with who the child can communicate. The decision of the parent is binding in respect of third party to which the parent has forbidden to communicate with the child.

Guardianship of property includes the right and obligation to administer the property of the child, including the right to represent the child. This does not exclude the right of the child to manage property independently in cases provided by law. The parents must manage the property that the child has acquired by inheritance or on the basis of a deed of gift, in accordance with the instructions of the person who has transferred the property. Also, parents cannot give away the property of the child as a representatives of the child. As an exception, it is allowed to make ordinary gifts for the purposes of courtesy.

To limit the guardianship rights of one parent and transfer them to the other parent, first of all, makes sense in a situation when one of the parents does not use his or her guardianship rights and does not participate in the life of the child or when the use of guardianship rights of one parent may harm the interests of the child.

It should be noted that the right of guardianship does not exclude the right of the parent who is bringing up the child to file a claim to the other parent for the recovery of child maintenance.

You can book the time for the meeting with a lawyer or get additional information by calling (+372) 6775544 or by sending an e-mail toklienditugi@kalashnikov.ee