DILEMMAS OF THE JUDICIAL ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURE REGARDING THE DECISIONS ON THE CONTACT RIGHTS BETWEEN THE CHILD AND THE NONCUSTODIAL PARENT IN HUNGARY

Until 28 February 2020, the enforcement of the contact was the responsibility of the guardianship authorities, and the detailed rules were laid down in Government Decree 149/1997 (IX. 10.) on guardianship authorities and child protection and guardianship procedure in Hungary. The enforcement of contact decisions was transferred from the competence of the guardianship authorities to the competence of the courts, and the rules of procedure were transferred to Act CXVIII of 2017 on the Rules Applicable to Civil NonContentious Proceedings in Courts and Certain Non-Contentious Proceedings in Courts. The legislation, which has been in force for more than four years, has highlighted a number of issues that the legislator or the law enforcer will need to revisit in the future. The study highlights some of these problems and controversial issues, both at the level of legislation and in practice, in order to draw attention to the neuralgic points of the enforcement of the contact decision and the need for reflelxion. The main questions of the research are: which authority is competent to enforce the parent-child contact agreement, what are the shortcomings of the current legislation in Hungary, how to ensure the best interests of the child in the enforcement procedure, is enforcement the only way to ensure contact, what alternative solutions are available to ensure that the contact between the uncustodial parent and child is in the best interests of the child.