June 2024 – Award of maintenance to the father to provide for his daughters – Dismissal of the opposing mother’s application for interim measures regarding the regulation of their custody

By virtue of decision number 3112/2024 of the Single-Member Court of First Instance of Athens (Interim Measures Procedure), on the one hand, the application for interim measures by our client, the father of two teenage daughters, was partially accepted, and the opposing mother was obliged to pay child maintenance to him. On the other hand, the application of the opposing mother against our client, in which she requested temporary exclusive custody of their daughters, or alternatively the right to joint custody with alternating weekly residence, or alternatively expanded visitation rights, was rejected as inadmissible.

Regarding the procedural history of the dispute, our client had filed for interim measures with the primary request for joint custody of their minor daughters and to designate his residence as their place of residence, which was accepted by interim measures decision number 8263/2022. Subsequently, the father filed a lawsuit with the same request, and the opposing party filed a counterclaim requesting exclusive custody for herself, or alternatively joint custody with alternating residence, and as a last resort, broad contact rights. On these counterclaims, decision number 12073/2023 of the Single-Member Court of First Instance of Athens (Family Dispute Procedure) was issued, which fully accepted our client’s lawsuit and assigned joint custody to both parents and designated his residence as the children’s place of residence, while also regulating the opposing mother’s visitation rights. After the issuance of this final decision, the mother appealed for its annulment.

Subsequently, due to the mother’s refusal to contribute to the daily needs of the children, our client filed for interim measures before the Single-Member Court of First Instance of Athens, requesting temporary child support. Immediately afterward, the opposing mother filed for interim measures before the same court, requesting exclusive custody of the children, or alternatively alternating residence, and as a last resort, expanded visitation rights. In her application, the opposing mother tried to link the issue of child maintenance with the issue of custody, stating that the father was abusively exercising joint custody by requesting child maintenance. She also requested the hearing of her application to be scheduled for the same date as our client’s interim measures for child maintenance, thus the applications were jointly heard.

With decision number 3112/2024, the Single-Member Court of First Instance of Athens partially accepted our client’s application, acknowledging that the mother should contribute to the child maintenance for their children and therefore awarded monthly child maintenance. Regarding the opposing mother’s application for interim measures, the court ruled it inadmissible as it was filed before an incompetent court, thus accepting our arguments. According to the decision’s reasoning, if it is considered that the applicant is challenging the correctness of the final decision number 12073/2023, the application is inadmissible since the competent court for this is the Single-Member Court of Appeal, where an appeal has already been filed. Furthermore, the court ruled that since decision number 12073/2023 has not become final (as the opposing party has appealed for its annulment), the interim measures decision number 8263/2022 remains in effect. Therefore, according to the explicit provision of paragraph 2 of article 698 paragraph 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the competent court to revoke this decision, if the main case is pending, is the court where the main case is pending, specifically the Single-Member Court of Appeal of Athens. The same conclusion is reached when applying article 697 of the Code of Civil Procedure, as the appeal had revived the litigation, making the competent court the court of the main trial, namely the Single-Member Court of Appeal of Athens.