Urgent measures in matters concerning minors – A brief reflection de lege ferenda

In family law cases, urgent measures have become a commonly applied institution.

While under the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) the court decides on urgent measures even without the defendant's statement, and the defendant often only learns of the proposal when the urgent measure is ordered, against which he or she can defend himself or herself by appeal, under the Civil Non-Contentious Procedure Code (CMP) – urgent measures in matters concerning minors, the court delivers the proposal for an urgent measure to the other parent for comment (unless it concerns special types of proceedings under § 365 et seq. CMP; we will leave those aside for now).