Abstract

The Polish Constitutional Tribunal ruled that Art. 598¹⁶ § 1 in conjunction with article 598¹⁵ § 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure is inconsistent with Art. 48 § 1 and Art. 72 § 3 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland insofar as it concerns the situations whereby inappropriate performance or non-performance of an obligation is because of a child’s behaviour for which the person who takes care of the child is not responsible (judgement of 22 June 2022, SK 3/20). The author of this paper makes an attempt to prove that although this judgement is based on a proper axiological basis (the best interest of a child and consideration of a child’s wishes) in practice the result of its application may have an opposite effect to what has been intended by the Tribunal. The judgement of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal may intensify the problem of so-called parental alienation.