The mandatory joint custody law in Greece denies access to the child's Tax ID Number and disability benefit

In December 2022, tvxs had documented in a report the tragic consequences of the Tsiaras law on mandatory joint custody.

There are telling cases in which custody is granted to a father who has abused the mother of the child but often the child itself as well, even including the child being seized by authorities at night. We also recorded the testimony of a breastfeeding mother who was forced by the court to be separated from her infant for 10 days a month, with the obligation to express milk and give it to the father.

The flagrant violation of children's rights, who continue to be the great victims of this law, is a given, just as the dire situation of mothers who have suffered abuse is a given.

Today tvxs comes to highlight further problems that two mothers are called upon to solve, whose testimonies we recorded. One is unable to obtain her child's Tax ID Number and the other the disability benefit.

Without a Tax ID Number

The government recently announced that Tax ID Numbers and access codes will be issued automatically for children over 12 years old and will be automatically forwarded to their parents by the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE).

But what happens in the case of joint custody where, although we have alternating residence, one parent's residence is declared as the children's residence?

"In our case, the judge had the bright idea to designate the father's home as the place of residence without justifying it. It's not even his house, nor did the children go to school near his house," R.Z. tells tvxs.

"In HDIKA, the children's residence is declared as the father's house. AADE takes the address from HDIKA and issues the Tax ID Numbers and sends them to the father. The mother doesn't exist anywhere in all this!

I have been begging the father of the children in writing for days to forward me the children's Tax ID Numbers and access codes, and he is ostentatiously ignoring me. Why? Because he can. I have no way to defend myself against this absurdity and sadism. Should I file for an injunction because he won't send me the Tax ID Numbers? Obviously what he is doing is a violation of the court decision, since he is obligated to inform me about matters concerning our children, especially when I demand it. But he couldn't care less. So I am forced to file application after application with AADE and the tax office in the hope that they might deign to give me too the information I am entitled to!"

After a parent's complaint to the National Transparency Authority, a relevant opinion from the Independent Authority was issued, which unfortunately does not appear to have prompted the state to provide a solution to the endless ordeal of children and parents.

Without a disabled child's benefit

"My child has been certified with a 67% disability by KEPA and is entitled to a benefit that would cover basic treatment expenses," says K.P.

"I asked the father, with whom we have joint custody, for us to apply so the child could receive the benefit, but he refused despite my insistence. I went to the Community Center of the Municipality where he lives, persuaded the social service to mediate to convince him to cooperate, with a simple sworn statement, so I could submit an application for the child to receive the benefit, and again he refused. I sent the father a message saying that I was not interested in becoming a co-beneficiary on the bank account where the benefit would be deposited, so that he wouldn't think I had selfish motives. He still refuses. I turned to the Child's Ombudsman to mediate, but he continued to obsessively refuse despite the Authority's efforts. In the end, the child does not receive the benefit. Because that's what the father decided.

The way the joint custody law is structured leaves children and their interests unprotected against any deranged parent. If someone wants to dig in their heels and not consent, even when their action is clearly against the children's interests, they can very simply do so. Because there is simply no institutional framework to truly protect children's interests."