Payment order in the new enforcement proceedings regarding contacts with minors

Typically, an order to pay specific amount of money is an intermediate coercive mean of enforcement of non-pecuniary obligations (Articles 10501, 10511 of the Code of Civil Procedure). In 2011, by virtue of amendment of the Code of Civil Procedure, a new proceeding (modeled on the French institution of astreinte) was introduced into the Polish civil procedure concerning enforcement of judgments on contacts with minors (Articles 59815-59821 of the Code of Civil Procedure). The new procedure consists of two stages. First, the guardianship court threatens the person with custody over a child (or a person who has the right of access to a child or a person prohibited from having access to a child) to order him to pay to a person authorised to have access to the child (or, respectively, a person who has the right of access to a child or a person prohibited from having access to a child) a certain amount of money, and thereafter, the guardianship court orders the payment of the required amount of money. The purpose of the new procedure is to establish a coercive measure in the form of payment of amount of money in order to protect the rights (as the case may be) of a person who has custody of the child, a person who is entitled to access to a child or a person prohibited from having access to a child. The paper critically assess the new procedural regulation. In the author's opinion, the new provisions - contrary to the intent of the legislator - do not grant the guardianship court the requisite flexibility that would allow to take into account facts of the specific case and the welfare of the child.