From parental rights to parental responsibility: developments in Slovenian family law

Katja Drnovšek, Katja Markač-Hrovatin

The long awaited Family Code (DZ), which replaced Marriage and Family Relations Act (ZZZDR), represents the most important recent development in Slovenian family law, as the enactment thereof affected practically all aspects of the regulation of family matters. The article focuses on the comparison of provisions regulating parental rights under ZZZDS and those regulating parental responsibility under DZ, with a special emphasis on the most important changes and resulting implications for the relationship between the parents and their children, as well as for the protection of the child’s best interests. Among the topics addressed are the scope, exercise and termination of parental responsibility, measures for the protection of the child’s best interests, the new institution of granting parental responsibility to a relative, etc. The article also contains a spreadsheet that allows for easier comparison between both the previous and current regime.