Legal Separation in the Light of the Amended Family and Welfare Code

Abstract

The term separation is derived from the Latin word separation, which means separation, disconnection and isolation. In family law this means separation of spouses and depriving one of them the right to the community of home.

Separation result from a marital crisis and collapse of the spouses’s plans. In that institution, however, which does not allow for faits accomplish, there is some hope that when the time heals the wounds the spouses will return to marital community.

By virtue of the law of 21 March 1999 the institution of marital separation was introduced into the Polish family and welfare code. According to that amendment, Section V was added to that code. The institution of legal separation would be binding from 16 December 1999 onwards and from that date all the people interested would have an opportunity to appeal for its decision. The works on the bills of marital separations lasted for many years, and that institution faced great reluctance on the part of left-wing groups. For ideological reasons, they stampeded the law.

Obviously, the present legal separation aside for making concordat marriages possible, is a further example how to respect citizens’ rights as regards their own religious beliefs.