Modification of measures

The Supreme Court (TS) has reviewed a typical family case where parents who already had established measures for years and, over time, returned to court to change them . Here, the mother filed a lawsuit to modify the previous measures and requested, among other things, to have exclusive custody of the child (since they previously had shared custody) and for the father to pay child support .

In the first instance (in the Court of Granada) the lawsuit was dismissed, meaning nothing was changed. But the mother appealed and the Provincial Court ruled in her favor when it granted her exclusive custody, established a visitation schedule for the father, and set a monthly child support payment to be made by the father. Up to this point, the relevant addition made by the Provincial Court was that these payments were to be made " from the filing of the lawsuit", that is, with retroactive effects.

The father appealed to the SC and it ruled in his favor on that point . It explains that, while joint custody was in force , the father was already contributing to the child's support in another way (paying and assuming expenses when the child was with him). Therefore, it is not a case where a "new obligation is established for the first time that justifies charging from the lawsuit. According to the SC, the monthly support payment starts to make sense when the child starts living with the mother , and that happens when the ruling of the Court of Appeals is issued. As a result, the support payment accrues from the date of that ruling , not from the day the lawsuit was filed. In situations of conflict between parents regarding child support, our professionals will provide you with adequate advice and defense of your interests and those of your children. , and that happens when the judgment of the Court of Appeals is issued. As a result, the pension accrues from the date of that judgment , not from the day the claim was filed.