Family
law

The family environment, at its most intimate and human, can lead to situations where the intensification of conflict takes on a criminal nature, i.e. the behavior adopted becomes likely to constitute a contravention, an offense or even a crime. Among the offenses most frequently encountered in the family home are the following:

• Abandonment of the family (particularly non-payment of maintenance)

• Domestic violence (physical or psychological, threats, etc.)

• Organised insolvency (to avoid paying maintenance)

• Non-representation and abduction of children (failure to hand over a child to the person entitled to claim it, or removal of the child from the place where it had been placed by the person with parental authority or the person to whom the child has been entrusted).

In addition to penalties of fines, imprisonment, criminal decisions may have consequences for the family that are decided directly by :

• The criminal court, which may in particular withdraw parental authority and prohibit contact or attendance in certain places such as the marital home;

• Le juge aux affaires familiales peut ordonner la suppression du droit de visite et d’hébergement d’un parent et prononcer une ordonnance de protection ;

• The public prosecutor, for a limited period, and the children’s judge may order that the children be placed either in a home or in a foster family.

• See also