Contact with the child obstructed despite a court decision: what to do under Georgian law

What to do

1. Where: decisions on transferring a child and on contact with the child are excluded from general enforcement proceedings and are not handled by the National Bureau of Enforcement (Law on Enforcement Proceedings, Art. 2). The basis is a writ of enforcement on a court decision that has entered into force (Procedure for Enforcement of Decisions on Children, Art. 7) — an agreement without a court decision cannot be enforced this way. Enforcement is carried out by the unit of the guardianship authority (social service) at the child's location (Procedure for Enforcement of Decisions on Children, Art. 7), on a written application from a parent, with the decision and the writ (Procedure for Enforcement of Decisions on Children, Art. 7).
2. Process: no later than 10 working days — a written demand for voluntary compliance (Procedure for Enforcement of Decisions on Children, Art. 7); the period for voluntary compliance is no more than 7 working days (Procedure for Enforcement of Decisions on Children, Art. 7). If the demand is not complied with — a fine of GEL 500 for failure to comply with the guardianship authority's demand (Code of Administrative Offences of Georgia, Art. 173¹³).
3. Schedule: each violation of the contact schedule is reported by the parent themselves (Procedure for Enforcement of Decisions on Children, Art. 6); a one-off enforcement does not close the enforcement proceedings on the schedule (Procedure for Enforcement of Decisions on Children, Art. 8). Record every missed meeting. The writ is returned if the obligated person or the child is not at the indicated address (Procedure for Enforcement of Decisions on Children, Art. 13).
4. Sabotage: a parent with whom the child lives may not restrict the rights of the other parent (Civil Code of Georgia, Art. 1202); failure to enforce or obstruction of a court decision is a crime (Criminal Code of Georgia, Art. 381). A claim to change the child's place of residence: the court determines the child's residence in the child's interests (Civil Code of Georgia, Art. 1201).
5. Appeal: the enforcer's actions may be challenged by a complaint to the head of the unit within 10 calendar days, and then to the court (Procedure for Enforcement of Decisions on Children, Art. 6).
6. Where to apply: guardianship authority (social service) at the child's location; court; police — in case of wilful non-compliance.
7. Evidence: the decision and the writ of enforcement; correspondence and records of missed meetings; witnesses; fine decisions; a psychologist's report.
8. Pitfalls: taking the writ to the National Bureau of Enforcement; not reporting each missed meeting; taking the child by force.

Be sure to check

• enforced by the guardianship authority (social service) at the child's location, not by the National Bureau of Enforcement; a writ of enforcement is required
• a demand for voluntary compliance with a period of up to 7 working days; then a fine of GEL 500
• report each violation of the schedule to the authority; record the evidence
• wilful non-compliance — criminal liability; a claim to change the child's place of residence