CASE OF LEITNER v. AUSTRIA
Violation of Article 14+8 - Prohibition of discrimination (Article 14 - Discrimination) (Article 8 - Right to respect for private and family life;Article 8-1 - Respect for family life)
Erik Møse;Yonko Grozev;Gabriele Kucsko-Stadlmayer
5. The applicant was born in 1961 and lives in Blumau. 6. The applicant and his former partner, S.O., have two children, born out of wedlock in 2002 and 2004 respectively. S.O. always had sole custody of the children as the parents never agreed to have joint custody. The applicant and S.O. never cohabited on a permanent basis. The children lived with their mother during the week. At weekends, the whole family usually stayed at the applicant’s house. 7. In April 2008 S.O. and the applicant separated and the children remained with their mother. 8. On 27 June 2008 the applicant lodged an application with the Vienna Inner City District Court (Bezirksgericht Innere Stadt; hereinafter, “the District Court”) to transfer sole custody to him, or to grant him joint custody together with S.O. Furthermore he applied for an interim measure concerning his visiting rights, as he had not seen his children since 20 April 2008. 9. On 8 October 2008 the parents agreed that the applicant would be able to see his children every second Monday from 2.30 pm or 3 pm until 6 pm and every second Saturday from 10 am until 6 pm. 10. On the same day the applicant applied for an extension of his visiting rights to the whole weekend. 11. After five visits from the applicant in October and November 2008, S.O. unilaterally stopped further visits, claiming that these had a negative influence on the children. Between November 2008 and Easter 2009, on his own initiative, the applicant secretly went to see his children at their school and kindergarten a few times. 12. The Vienna Juvenile Court Assistance Office (Jugendgerichtshilfe) submitted its statement on 10 March 2009 and recommended maintaining sole custody for the mother and visiting rights for the applicant according to the agreement the parents had concluded on 8 October 2008. 13. On 6 April 2009 the District Court decided to grant the applicant visiting rights on every second Saturday from 8 am until 7 pm. It dismissed the applicant’s application for sole custody. 14. In its reasoning the court held that the children were well cared for by their mother. According to Article 176 of the Civil Code (Allgemeines Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch) as in force at the relevant time, a transfer of custody was only possible if the children’s best interest was at risk. In the present case the court found no such risk and the applicant actually had not claimed such a risk. The court further held that the visiting rights were decided in accordance with the parents’ mutual agreement. 15. The applicant appealed on 14 April 2009 and argued in essence that he was discriminated against, compared to the mother. Also, he complained that the court had not decided on the question of whether the parents could be awarded joint custody. 16. According to the applicant’s submissions, his visiting rights were resumed on 24 April 2009 in the amount determined by the District Court (see paragraph 13 above). 17. On 28 July 2009 the Vienna Regional Court (Landesgericht) dismissed the applicant’s appeal as unfounded. It confirmed the reasoning of the District Court and held that there was no indication of a risk to the children’s best interest if the mother maintained sole custody. It further held that there was no provision in law ordering a preference for granting one of the parents sole custody. The court also found that the parents had not mutually agreed on joint custody, therefore no further issues arose in this connection. 18. The applicant lodged an extraordinary appeal with the Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof) on 10 November 2009, again claiming that he was discriminated against compared to the mother and that the decision of the lower instances violated his rights under Article 8 of the Convention. 19. On 1 September 2010 the Supreme Court rejected the applicant’s extraordinary appeal for lack of an important issue of law. 20. After the amendment of the Civil Code (see paragraph 22 below), the applicant on 5 February 2013 again applied for joint custody, or sole custody in the alternative. Shortly after, S.O. moved with the children to the south of Austria, about 400 kilometers from Vienna. The applicant’s requests for sole or shared custody were finally dismissed by the Supreme Court on 7 May 2014.