This master's thesis deals with proceedings in family matters, which have been subject to major reform due to the enactment of the new Family Code in 2019. The Family Code transferred all the decision-making in family matters from social work centres to courts, and it also introduced some completely new competences of the courts. Consequently, this was followed by the reform of judicial proceedings in such matters, resulting in the new Non-Contentious Civil Procedure Act (ZNP-1). Due to its characteristics, non-contentious procedure is considered to be more appropriate to deal with such matters in comparison with the contentious civil procedure.
As the current procedural legislation is modelled on previous legislation, the aim of this master's thesis is mainly to present novelties in Slovenian legislation, introduced by the ZNP-1 and to determine, whether the existing rules are adequate. The introductory part of the thesis is outlining the reform, introduced by the Family Code, and is setting out reasons for the decision on non-contentious procedure in most family matters. This part is then followed by the introduction of the novelties in the field of general norms of non-contentious procedure. It can be seen that large part of those novelties consists of norms aiming at the additional protection of children and adults, unable to take care of their rights and interests. The child's position within the procedure is also presented. Due to the transfer of all proceedings regarding a child to non-contentious proceedings the child's position within the procedure is strengthened. The main part of the master thesis, however, presents specific proceedings in family matters. Particular attention is devoted to the procedures for the protection of child's interest and child's position in those procedures.
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