AKMV Placing a child with relatives
QUESTION
Hello. I would like to ask: I have been divorced for 10 years and have two children, aged 18 and 15. I am now in a long-term relationship, we have a child together, and we are facing housing issues. We would like to live together, but there isn’t enough space at my partner’s place for all of us. I want to ask if I moved in with him only with our daughter, and my other children lived with my acquaintances (whom I would pay for housing, visit them, and fund their studies), could I face legal trouble if someone reported that they don’t live with me? Could I be prosecuted for the abandonment of a child or a close person?
ANSWER:
The criminal offense of child abandonment is defined in Section 206 of Act No. 300/2005 Coll., the Criminal Code, as follows:
“Whoever abandons a child whom they have a duty to care for and who cannot obtain help for themselves, thereby exposing the child to the danger of death or injury to health, shall be punished by imprisonment for one to five years. The perpetrator shall be punished by imprisonment for three to ten years if they commit the act mentioned in paragraph 1: a) in a more serious manner of execution, or b) against a child younger than six years. The perpetrator shall be punished by imprisonment for seven to twelve years if they commit the act mentioned in paragraph 1 and: a) thereby cause serious injury to health or death, or b) do so during a crisis situation.”
According to legal literature: “The criminal offense of child abandonment under Section 206 can only occur when the perpetrator’s intent involves only the creation of a danger of death or injury to health. If the perpetrator knows that as a result of abandoning the child, a fatal consequence may actually occur and is reconciled to it, such conduct fulfills the elements of the crime of murder under Section 145, Paragraph 1, or the murder of a newborn child by the mother under Section 146, or an attempt of these crimes (compare R 25/1992-II.).” (ČENTÉŠ, J. et al.: Criminal Code – Commentary, Iura Edition, 2016).
Based on the above (without assessing other potential circumstances not included in the question), it follows that the conduct you describe would not be considered the criminal offense of child abandonment.
We also remind you that a person who has reached the age of 18 is considered a legal adult under the legal system of the Slovak Republic.
JUDr. Veronika Michalíková, MBA