It is common in many families that grandparents are largely responsible for raising children. They devote their free time to them, instill values and surround them with care. Unfortunately, sometimes family conflicts arise, with the result that contacts between grandparents and grandchildren are difficult, and sometimes even impossible. This is most often the case when parents separate. Such situations are met by the Polish legislator, who provides for the possibility of regulating grandparents' contacts with their grandchildren before the court.
The provisions of the Family and Guardianship Code focus primarily on regulating parent-child contact, but according to Article 113.6 of the cited law, it is understood that the right to demand regulation of contacts with grandchildren is also granted to grandparents, especially if they previously had custody of the child. The aforementioned provisions are widely used in practice, and their importance and usefulness are confirmed by the Supreme Court itself. In one of its resolutions, the Supreme Court presented the following position: „in the social conditions of our country, great importance is attached to multi-generational families, this is due both to family traditions and because of the special role of grandparents in the actual execution of custody of minor grandchildren. Therefore, it is as normal as possible to maintain contact between members of a three-generation family in non-conflictual conditions.” Moreover, ”parents have a duty of care for the development of the child for the sake of his well-being. Therefore, they should, for the full development of his personality, allow the child to contact his relatives (grandparents) with their proper attitude and beneficial influence on the child. These contacts, often resulting from strong emotional ties, especially between grandparents and grandchildren, raising them from infancy, can influence the child's better upbringing and spiritual development, and foster the continuation of the ties of the multigenerational family. Such behavior by grandparents, showing affection and care for their grandchildren, not only does not conflict with the interests of the child, but it is for the child's benefit.” (III CZP 42/88) Therefore, it can be assumed that grandparents have a full right to have contact with their grandchildren, as long as it is in the interests of the minors. This right includes staying and communicating directly with the child, maintaining correspondence and using other means of remote communication, including electronic communication. The welfare of the child is one of the fundamental values protected by the provisions of the Family and Guardianship Code. In most cases, grandparents have good intentions, they want to actively participate in the lives of their grandchildren, but if they can have a potentially bad effect on the development of the child - the court will dismiss the application for regulating contacts.
The case for regulating contacts between grandparents and grandchildren is heard by a single judge at the request of the interested parties, in this case the grandparents. The application should include a proposal to regulate contacts and a statement of reasons, describing the reasons that prompted us to take the case to court. The locally competent court is the district court in whose district the child resides. However, the place of residence of a child under parental authority is the place of residence of his parents. If parental authority is vested equally in both parents having separate residences, the domicile of the child is with the parent with whom the child permanently resides. If the minor lives, for example, in the city of Poznań, the proper place of residence will be the District Court in Poznań, covering the area of the district in which the child resides. The participants in the proceedings are the child's parents and the minor.
