CEDH · CASELAW;JUDGMENTS;CHAMBER;ENG — 20 septembre 2022

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page-break-after:avoid } .s69DCC830 { margin-top:36pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .s5749FA4E { width:31.55pt; display:inline-block } .s4D5F7D2B { width:138.77pt; display:inline-block } .s5A65B3DC { width:46.56pt; display:inline-block } .s44B8752F { width:177.11pt; display:inline-block }   SECOND SECTION CASE OF POPADIĆ v. SERBIA (Application no. 7833/12)     JUDGMENT Art 8 • Family life • Positive obligations • Authorities’ failure to act with necessary diligence in matrimonial proceedings in which the applicant sought extension of contact rights with his young son to include overnight and holiday contact • Protracted judicial proceedings • Failure to consider applicant’s legitimate interest in developing a bond with his child and the latter’s long term interest to the same effect • Despite regular contact and a favourable determination of the dispute, quality and quantity of contact affected by lack of overnight and holiday contact for a considerable amount of time   STRASBOURG 20 September 2022 FINAL   20/12/2022     This judgment has become final under Article 44 § 2 of the Convention. It may be subject to editorial revision.   In the case of Popadić v. Serbia, The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting as a Chamber composed of: Jon Fridrik Kjølbro , President, Carlo Ranzoni , Egidijus Kūris , Branko Lubarda , Gilberto Felici , Saadet Yüksel , Diana Sârcu , judges, and Hasan Bakırcı, Section Registrar, Having regard to: the application (no.   7833/12) against the Republic of Serbia lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by a Serbian national, Mr Saša Popadić (“the applicant”), on 26 December 2011; the decision to give notice to the Serbian Government (“the Government”) of the application on 14 January 2014; the parties’ observations; Having deliberated in private on 30 August 2022, Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date: INTRODUCTION 1.     The present case concerns the allegedly protracted length of matrimonial proceedings which prevented the applicant from fully exercising his parental responsibility over his son to include overnight and holiday contact, without relevant and sufficient reasons being adduced for limiting his contact rights throughout the proceedings. THE FACTS 2.     The applicant was born in 1973 and lives in Novi Sad. He was initially represented by Mr M. Dragićević, a lawyer practising in Subotica, and subsequently by Ms D. Vasković, a lawyer practising in the same town. 3.     The Government were represented by Ms V. Rodić, their Agent before the European Court of Human Rights at the relevant time. 4.     The facts of the case may be summarised as follows. BACKGROUND TO THE CASE 5.     The applicant has a son, S.P., who was born in February 2003, from his marriage with N.J. The family lived together in N.J.’s family’s house in Kruševac until 31   October 2004, when the applicant moved to his parents’ house in his hometown, Novi Sad, at a distance of approximately 300 km from Kruševac, and found employment as a dentist there. Their son, who was one year and nine months old at the time, remained living with his mother, who was working in her dentist practice in Kruševac. 6 .     The applicant and N.J. established post-separation arrangements for the applicant and their son to see each other once a week, either on Saturday or Sunday, between 10.30 a.m. and 3.30 p.m. in Kruševac, but could not come to an agreement on overnight stays either in that town or in Novi Sad. 7.     In January 2005 the applicant applied to the Kruševac Social Care Centre for assistance in establishing his contact rights and asked to be granted an interim measure in this respect two weeks later. As a result of legislative changes in 2005, competence to decide on the matters in issue was transferred from social services to the judiciary. MATRIMONIAL PROCEEDINGS AND RELEVANT INTERIM ORDERS 8 .     On 8 March 2005 the applicant brought a civil action in the Kruševac Municipal Court seeking the dissolution of his marriage and extensive access rights in respect of his son, who was two years and one month old at that time. He explicitly acknowledged, as previously agreed, that it would be better for S.P. to remain living with his mother in view of his very young age, and he also offered to pay child maintenance. He further stated that he was seeing the child for several hours every weekend in Kruševac as agreed between him and N.J. (“the respondent”). However, as the respondent had been against overnight stays and the child travelling to Novi Sad, the applicant applied to the court to be allowed (i) to take his son every month for a week to Novi Sad to spend time also with him and his grandparents, (ii)   to spend one day with him during the three remaining weekends in Kruševac, and (iii) to spend fifteen days together in both the summer and winter holidays. He suggested that the respondent could visit the child whenever he was with him. 9.     On 19 April 2005 the Municipal Court sent the civil action for response to the respondent. In her written response of 23 May 2005, she contested only the applicant’s application for extensive contact rights. She also informed the court that she had initiated another set of matrimonial proceedings on 16   March, not being aware that the applicant had also done so. 10 .     On 7 June 2005 the applicant requested the court to expedite the proceedings and to schedule the first hearing as soon as possible. 11 .     The court’s attempt at conciliation through mediation on 22   September 2005 was not successful. 12 .     At a mediation hearing on 13 October 2005, which had been scheduled with the intention of reaching an amicable settlement of the case, the parties explained that they had agreed on everything except the amount of time the child should spend with the applicant. The court briefly concluded that the attempt at an amicable settlement had failed and transmitted the case to a new trial chamber to examine it. It also rejected the respondent’s civil action on the ground of litispendence ( lis pendens ). 13 .     At the first trial hearing of 7 November 2005, the new chamber began the proceedings from the beginning and accepted the applicant’s initiative to request an expert opinion on the impugned contact rights. The court also requested information from the local Kruševac Social Care Centre on whether their experts had established contact with the parties in order to preserve contact between the applicant and his son. 14 .     On 16 November 2005 the applicant informed the court that he had pre-paid the costs and expenses for the engagement of an expert psychologist and proposed several tasks to be undertaken by the expert, such as assessing the parties’ parental capabilities and their living conditions. He stated that the child had developed an emotional bond with his family despite the distance at which they lived from each other. He also submitted that the child, who lived only with his mother and grandmother, had not been growing up in the presence of any of the male family members who lived in his household in Novi Sad and that it had been slowly having an effect on his proper psychological upbringing. 15.     On 14 December 2005 the Kruševac Social Care Centre confirmed that they were in contact with the parties following the applicant’s initiative, noting their established pattern of contact each weekend and that the only disagreement between them pertained to the child’s overnight stays and travelling once a month to the father’s hometown. 16 .     In her report of 28 December 2005, which she also presented at the hearing on 31   May 2006, S.B., a clinical psychologist from the Kruševac Social Care Centre, noted that the applicant was highly motivated and able to have frequent and quality contact with his son, who was developing normally and felt satisfied and loved despite his parents’ separation. She further observed that contact between them had never been interrupted, that they had developed an emotional bond and that contact had been going very smoothly without any kind of separation crisis. On the other hand, the mother was the main caregiver and the child had a very strong emotional and social bond with her, as well as routines in respect of sleeping and other habits. In view of these findings and the child’s young age, the psychologist advised very frequent whole-day contact between the applicant and his son on Saturdays or Sundays three weekends a month, but only sporadic overnight stays of a maximum of two consecutive days the fourth weekend to take place not far from the child’s residence, owing to a possible separation crisis in the event of a longer separation from his mother. Lastly, she stated that a decision on overnight stays outside a child’s hometown would depend on the particular circumstances of each case, and she could not anticipate when exactly the child might be ready for such stays in the present case, but that, in general, adaptation periods for changes, especially in favourable circumstances such as those which existed in the present case, usually lasted about a year. Therefore, more extensive access rights for the applicant might be deemed appropriate after a year of the proposed adaptation regime, given that a child should be gradually separated from his mother more often after three years of age anyway. 17.     On 23 January 2006 the applicant expressed certain objections to the expert’s findings and asked that she be heard in court. 18 .     The expert could not attend the hearing scheduled for 13 February 2006 owing to other commitments. At that very brief hearing, the court invited the applicant to provide details of his child maintenance contribution and the respondent to submit in writing her objections concerning the expert report, if any. On 20 February the applicant provided the requested information. As regards contact rights, he also amended his initial civil action of 8 March 2005 (see paragraph 8 above), applying to the court to be allowed to take his son to his hometown one weekend a month instead of for a whole week. He repeated that the respondent could visit the child whenever he was with him. 19 .     The two hearings fixed for 24 March and 19 April 2006 were adjourned owing to the presiding judge’s other commitments and the expert’s inability to attend due to certain health-related issues, respectively. 20 .     At a hearing of 31 May 2006, for the first time the court heard the parties and the expert, S.B. The respondent confirmed that “following contact with his father, the child was satisfied, contact was going smoothly, [and the child] did not show any difficulties when separated from one or the other parent”. Following the respondent’s proposal, the court decided to request another report from R.R., a child neurologist, on the frequency, type and duration of contact between the applicant and his son, taking into account the latter’s age and psychological maturity. 21 .     The next two hearings, scheduled for 20 June and 24 July 2006, were adjourned for procedural reasons, that is, because of the short timescale for appointing a new expert after payment of the fees, and because the court had failed to secure the presence of lay judges ( sudija porotnika ) for family matters as required under the newly enforced provisions of the domestic family law (see paragraph 63 below), respectively. 22 .     In the meantime, the second expert, R.R., submitted her report on 18   July 2006. She advised against any overnight contact between the child and the applicant without the mother’s presence, either in Kruševac or Novi Sad. According to the expert, the scientific model of gradual separation of a child from his or her mother after three years of age was obsolete. Even if the parents lived together, the decision of a child who had already attained the age of three to continue sleeping with his or her mother should be respected. In an analysis of child-parent relationships in general, she did not advise any pressure on a child to be separated from the mother overnight until he or she had attained the age of six, unless the child so wished and requested. As regards the present case, she recommended that it would be in the child’s best interest to maintain his habitual living arrangements and to be separated from his mother only for short periods of time, in a relaxed atmosphere, without pressure, anxiety and dissatisfaction and to spend several hours with the applicant per day each weekend. The child could sleep at his father’s if he wished and requested, but not before he attained the age of six. It was not necessary for the child to stay overnight with the father, away from his house and bed, for them to be closer. There were many other and better ways to become closer, such as finding common topics, taking an interest in the child, actively listening to and playing with him. Sleeping away from his house and bed without his mother’s presence could, according to the expert, create a risk of anxiety and feeling of panic, since the child had a routine of going to sleep in his mother’s presence. The child was three and a half years old at the time the report was drafted. 23.     On 4 August 2006 the applicant strongly objected to the expert’s findings and requested the court to make the expert’s appointment in the case null and void. He also applied for an interim order on his contact rights in order to avoid the type of and schedule for contact between him and the child being unilaterally imposed by the respondent until the end of what were already prolonged matrimonial proceedings (see paragraph 27 below). 24 .     The proceedings were resumed before a new presiding judge and trial chamber. At a brief fifteen-minute hearing of 16 August 2006, the applicant requested the recusal of the second expert and asked the court to request an additional expert report ( superveštačenje ) from the Belgrade Institute for Mental Health. However, following the respondent’s initiative, the court ordered the two experts S.B. and R.R. to try harmonise their divergent findings within ten days. 25 .     The experts eventually did so a month and a half later, on 5 October 2006, submitting an one-page report. Referring to their different opinions on whether the child should be separated from his mother to spend some overnight time with his father on weekends, the experts recommended commencing with day contact of nine hours (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) only, three Saturdays a month, without any overnight stay or travelling with the child to Novi Sad. In their brief reasoning, the two experts referred in a general manner to the “latest scientific knowledge” which implied that it “would be in the child’s best interest (in view of specific psychological characteristics, habits and habitual living arrangements which provide the feeling of primary safety and the basis for future healthy overall development) not to drastically disturb the already-established psychological balance and stability he has with the mother in order to provide for overnight stays with the father and twenty-four hours of separation from the mother. Otherwise, there may be a risk of the appearance of damaging emotional reactions in the child such as anxiety [ strepnja ], fear or even panic, which may permanently negatively affect his future psychological (emotional and social) development. In general, six can be taken as the age at which it can be assumed that such separation could be achieved [, at which point] further extended contact with the father [could be envisaged].” 26 .     At a subsequent ten-minute hearing on 11 October 2006, the court exchanged the parties’ submissions; the applicant stated that he had not received a copy of the latest expert report, but objected to the experts’ findings and repeated his request of 16 August 2006 for an expert report from the Institute for Mental Health (see paragraph 24 above). The first interim order on the applicant’s (day) contact rights 27 .     In the meantime, on 4 August 2006 the applicant asked the court to grant an interim order (a) to allow him access to the child three Saturdays a month from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Kruševac, and (b) to spend from 5 p.m. on Saturday to 6 p.m. on Sunday with him on the remaining weekend, with the right to take him to Novi Sad if he so wished. 28 .     On 1 September 2006 the court made an interim order, stating that the applicant should have the right to spend some time with his child, it being in the interest of the child, as otherwise the parental relationship could deteriorate and affect the child as well. It reduced the pre-arranged contact arrangements to ten hours every other Saturday, as the parents should be equal and the respondent should therefore have the other two Saturdays to spend with the child. It further stated that it would not decide in its interim order on the applicant’s remaining applications concerning the overnight stays, given that this aspect of the applicant’s contact rights was precisely the subject matter of the parties’ main dispute. 29 .     Following the applicant’s subsequent appeal of 18 September, on 14   November 2006 the District Court quashed the part of the interim order refusing to decide on overnight stays and instructed the first-instance court to issue an interim order also in respect of that matter. 30.     The court eventually failed to decide on the application for an interim order, despite the applicant twice requesting that the decision-making process be accelerated, but instead continued the main proceedings and delivered a judgment on 13 June 2007 (see paragraph 36 below). The continuation of the decision-making proceedings concerning daily visits and overnight stays following the first interim order 31 .     The next hearing fixed for 24 January 2007 was adjourned as none of the parties, or their representatives, appeared in court, although they had allegedly been duly summoned. 32 .     On 7 February 2007 the court again heard the parties, who repeated their previous requests and statements. The applicant questioned the lack of overnight stays, given the fact that the regular daily visits had been going smoothly. The respondent was against overnight stays, including in Novi Sad, in view of the father’s alleged immaturity, and the fact that a small child should not have to travel so far and that he had not requested to do so himself, as well as his sleeping habits. The court closed the evidence-gathering process and announced that the parties would be informed about the outcome of the case. 33.     A month and a half later, on 20 March 2007, the court reinstated the case and scheduled a new hearing for 9 May. It requested the Novi Sad and Kruševac Social Care Centres to submit their opinions and suggestions on the applicant’s contact rights by the latter date. 34 .     The Novi Sad Social Care Centre interviewed the applicant on 20   April 2007 and the court received its summary report ( sintetizovan izveštaj ) two weeks later, on 4 May 2007. Focusing on the applicant’s parental competency examined by various methodological tools, the report found that he lived in a very comfortable house in Novi Sad, showed very high and authentic parental motivation and responsibility for the child’s development and also wished to improve parental cooperation. Despite the distance at which they lived from each other, he had maintained contact with his son and wished to increase it as much as possible. The Centre recommended the following contact schedule: every other weekend from 5   p.m. on Friday to 8 p.m. on Sunday, and ten and twenty days during the winter and summer holidays, respectively. 35 .     The court adjourned the hearing scheduled for 9 May 2007 as it had not received the second report. After a reminder, the court received the report by the Kruševac Social Care Centre on 29 May 2007. After hearing the parties, the Centre noted the applicant’s high motivation, responsibility and competence, as well as the mutual positive affection between him and the child, which had also been recognised by the respondent. In view of its findings, it recommended increasing the applicant’s contact rights with the aim of optimally fulfilling the child’s needs, rights and interest and allowing the applicant to spend whole weekends and a part of the holidays with his son in Kruševac and/or Novi Sad. 36 .     Following the hearing held on 13 June 2007, the court closed the main proceedings and subsequently (i)   dissolved the marriage between the applicant and the respondent, (ii)   awarded custody of the child to the respondent ( poverio decu na negu, staranje i vaspitavanje majci ), (iii)   ordered the applicant to pay 30% of his income in child maintenance (iv)   ruled on his contact rights, (v) summarily rejected the applicant’s application for contact during the holiday period, and (vi) refused the applicant’s claim for costs and expenses. As regards contact rights (iv), the court decided, following the proposal of the Kruševac Social Care Centre, that the applicant should be allowed to take his son on the first weekend of each month to Novi Sad from 6 p.m. on Friday to 8 p.m. on Sunday, to spend the third weekend with him in Kruševac from 9 a.m. on Saturday to 8 p.m. on Sunday and to see him on the fourth Sunday in that town between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. The court provided a summary of the findings in the reports, noting that they were based mostly on assumptions without concrete examples, but that no harm or problems for the continuation of contact between the applicant and his son had been noted in any of the reports. Lastly, the court dismissed in one sentence as unjustified the applicant’s application to spend time with the child during his holidays, considering that a longer separation of the child from his mother than that awarded should be postponed, having regard to the expert reports, the child’s age and his appropriate but still developing relationship with his father. 37.     The judgment was served on the parties on 27 July 2007. 38 .     The part of the first-instance judgment on the dissolution of the marriage and sole-custody award became final, but both parties appealed against the remaining part on 2 August 2007. 39 .     On 4 October 2007 the District Court quashed the part of the judgment concerning contact during the holidays and the costs and expenses, decreased the amount of child maintenance and upheld the remainder, including the ruling concerning the applicant’s contact rights. On contact during the holidays, the appeal court noted that the lower court had failed to establish and assess the relevant facts and that it could not therefore determine whether the law had been applied correctly or not. It remitted that part of the case for fresh consideration and instructed the court to request an additional expert report taking into account the applicant’s capabilities, his successful contact with the child and also the fact that the adaptation period of one year, referred to in the first expert report, had already passed (see paragraph 16 above). The judgment was served on the parties on 29 October 2007. In the meantime, the Municipal Court continued the examination of the applicant’s application concerning contact during the holidays (see paragraphs   43-56 below). 40.     On 2 November 2007 the respondent lodged an appeal on points of law against the judgment of 4 October 2007, except for the quashed part. 41 .     Following a hearing, the court decided on a further application for an interim order on contact during the holidays (see paragraph 46 below) and announced its intention to send the case file to the Supreme Court on 26   December 2007, which was to examine the respondent’s appeal on points of law concerning the endorsed and reversed parts of the judgment of 4   October 2007 (see paragraph 39 above). It would appear, however, that it failed to do so until the beginning of August 2008 (see paragraph 52 below). 42 .     On 12 December 2008 the Municipal Court received the main case file from the Supreme Court, together with its decision of 15 October 2008 rejecting the respondent’s appeal on points of law. Continuation of the main proceedings concerning the application for contact during the holidays and related interim orders 43 .     In compliance with the instruction made by the District Court (see paragraph 39 above), on 18 October 2007 the Municipal Court ordered the Kruševac Social Care Centre to submit an additional report on the applicant’s contact rights during the school holidays. 44 .     On 31 October 2007 the applicant sought an interim order in respect of contact with his son during the forthcoming winter holiday. 45 .     On 24 December 2007 the Kruševac Social Care Centre, after hearing the parties and noting their disagreement on the issue, stated that it would be possible and in the best interest of the child to spend ten and fifteen days with the applicant during the summer and winter holidays, respectively. The Centre made reference to the existence of regular contact between the applicant and his son, including overnight stays, the respondent’s affirmative expression on their mutual bond, the child’s developing characteristics and the applicant’s readiness to recognise, follow and react to his needs, including to shorten the stay if need be. 46 .     Following a very brief hearing on 26 December 2007, the Municipal Court refused on the same day the applicant’s application for an interim order. It found that there would be no irreparable damage to the applicant and his son if they did not spend the winter holiday together in view of the award of regular contact rights to the applicant by the judgment of 13 June 2007 (see paragraph 36 above). 47.     On 25 February 2008 the applicant appealed against the refusal to issue an interim order and also, in view of the delayed decision on his application concerning the winter holiday, sought to spend fifteen days of the summer holiday with his son. 48 .     On 23 May 2008 the District Court quashed the decision of 26   December 2007 because the lower court had given an ambiguous statement instead of assessing the evidence before it, including the expert report (see paragraph 45 above), and providing proper reasoning. Such a failure amounted to a grave breach of civil procedure and prevented the higher court from examining the relevant legal issues. The District Court also instructed the court of first instance that, instead of deciding on the applications for an interim order, it should decide immediately on the merits of the application for contact during holiday, given that it had gathered all the necessary evidence. 49.     On 26 June 2008 the applicant informed the Municipal Court that he had not been served with the second-instance decision, but that he had learned about its outcome. He reiterated his request for an interim order in respect of the forthcoming summer holiday and requested the acceleration of the proceedings. 50 .     On 7 July 2008 the court granted the applicant an interim order to spend the last ten days of the summer holiday with his son. The applicant received this interim order on 31 July 2008 and it would appear that it was enforced on 20 August. 51.     On 4 August 2008 the applicant again requested the expedition of the proceedings. 52 .     It would appear that the case file was only sent to the Supreme Court on 11 August 2008 to examine the respondent’s appeal on points of law of 2   November 2007 concerning the endorsed and reversed parts of the judgment of 4 October 2007 (see paragraph 41 above). As set out in paragraph   42 above, on 12 December 2008 the Municipal Court received the main case file from the Supreme Court, together with its decision rejecting the respondent’s appeal on points of law. 53.     In an application of 24 December 2008, the applicant asked the court to adopt an interim order to allow him to spend a week (24-31 January 2009) with his son in the nearby mountains. 54 .     On 13 January 2009, the hearing restarted because of changes to the bench. The Municipal Court subsequently granted the interim order as sought, referring to the Centre’s report of 24 December 2007 (see paragraph 45 above), the District Court’s guidance in its decision of 23 May 2008 (see paragraph 48 above) and the reservation of the travel arrangements by the applicant. The measure appears to have been enforced as granted. The respondent appealed, but it would appear that the appeal was not served on the applicant until 3 February 2009. 55 .     On 26 January 2009 the Kruševac District Court quashed the interim order on appeal given that the first-instance court had failed to determine all the relevant facts, including the winter holiday schedule for pre-school children and also the absence of proof in the case file that the applicant had actually made a reservation. However, the court, referring to its earlier remittal of the case for fresh consideration (see paragraph 48 above), found it “unacceptable that, despite the urgent character of the dispute and the statutory duty to conclude it after no more than two hearings, the first-instance court [had] not yet decided on the matter of the holidays”. The court added that the first-instance court should deliver a decision on the merits as soon as possible instead of dealing with the matter by interim measures as and when the applications were lodged. 56 .     On 3 February 2009, after the parties had reached a mutual agreement and following the related hearing, the court gave a decision in which it stated that the applicant was allowed to spend with his son: (i) the day after his son’s birthdays, (ii) the applicant’s religious holiday ( slava ) on 20 January between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. in Novi Sad, (iii) ten days during the winter holidays after Christmas, (iv) fifteen days of the summer holidays, and (v) each New Year’s Eve between 31 December and 2 January. The court also found that each party should cover its own expenses. The judgment became final and enforceable the same day it was pronounced, given that the parties had withdrawn their right to appeal at that hearing, except in respect of costs. Continuation of the main proceedings in respect of the costs 57 .     Following the applicant’s subsequent appeal in respect of the costs only, on 30 April 2009 the District Court upheld the first-instance judgment. This decision was served on the applicant four months later, on 29 August 2009. 58 .     On 5 November 2009 the Supreme Court rejected the applicant’s subsequent appeal on points of law in respect of the costs as not being available. This decision was served on the applicant on 26 February 2010. CONSTITUTIONAL APPEAL 59.     In his subsequent constitutional appeal of 24 June 2009, as amended on 14 June 2011, the applicant complained that the then protracted and still pending proceedings had deprived him of extended contact with his son, in particular, the right to overnight contact for two and a half years and to spend time with his son during the holidays for almost four years. He argued that there was no reason for the pending proceedings to last that long, more than four years, and in particular that he had not been able to have access to his child even after the adoption of an interim measure on the issue for two and a half years. Referring to Article 32 of the Constitution, to different delays in the proceedings and his requests for expedition, he requested the acknowledgement of the violation, acceleration of the proceedings, and costs. 60 .     On 2 November 2011 the Constitutional Court dismissed the applicant’s appeal. It found, following a detailed presentation of the facts and domestic law, that the overall period of four years and eleven and a half months did not in itself present an issue in respect of the right to a trial within a reasonable time. It went on to examine the relevant criteria as follows: (i)   while acknowledging its great relevance for the applicant, the case, which had been examined at three levels of jurisdiction, had been particularly complex, as it had required a decision on several matrimonial issues, several expert reports to be provided for that purpose and various documents, including on the parties’ financial status; (ii) the applicant had contributed to the delay to an extent by failing to appear at the hearing of 24 January 2007 and also by lodging an appeal on points of law which was not available (see paragraphs   16 and 31 above; see also Kostovska v. the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia , no. 44353/02, § 36, 15 June 2006); (iii) the domestic courts had, after an initial delay, involving also legislative changes in family law, regularly scheduled the hearings; and (iv) the fact that it had taken two years and seven months for the domestic courts to give a judgment at first instance, or four and a half years to terminate the proceedings, did not raise any issue in terms of the alleged violation of the right to a trial within a reasonable time, particularly given that the father had had regular contact with his son in the meantime and that overnight stays and contact during the holidays had eventually been granted. RELEVANT LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND PRACTICE RELEVANT PROVISIONS CONCERNING CHILD CUSTODY AND MAINTENANCE DISPUTES 61 .     Articles 310b, 390 and 391 of the Marriage and Family Relations Act ( Zakon o braku i porodičnim odnosima ; published in the Official Gazette of the Socialist Republic of Serbia – OG SRS – nos.   22/80 , 24/84 and 11/88 , and the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia – OG RS – nos.   22/93 , 25/93 , 35/94 , 46/95 and 29/01 ), which was in force at the time the applicant initiated the matrimonial proceedings, provided that all maintenance-related actions and child custody enforcement proceedings were to be dealt with by the courts urgently. 62 .     The Family Act ( Porodični zakon ; published in OG   RS no.   18/05), came into force on 1   July 2005 in respect of most of its Articles and thereby repealed the Marriage and Family Relations Act referred to above (see, for example, paragraph 63 below). Article   204 provided that all family-related disputes involving children or parents who exercised parental rights had to be dealt with by the court urgently. The first hearing had to be scheduled within fifteen days of the action being instituted. First-instance courts had to conclude the proceedings after no more than two hearings, and second-instance courts had to decide on appeals within a period of thirty days. 63 .     Article 203   §§ 1 to 3 of the Family Act, which exceptionally came into force on 1   July 2006 in conjunction with Article   363, provided that proceedings regarding family-related matters were to be adjudicated at first instance by a panel composed of one judge who had special knowledge in the field of children’s rights, and two lay judges who were to be selected from the ranks of experts with experience in working with children and young people. 64.     Article 230 provided for compulsory mediation and conciliation proceedings which had to be conducted in parallel with divorce proceedings if the latter had not been initiated by mutual agreement of the marital partners. These proceedings had to be conducted with the expert assistance of the Social Care Centre. In addition, the authority entrusted with mediation proceedings was obliged to conduct conciliation proceedings within two months of the date of the action being instituted. 65.     Article 266   §   1 and Article 270 provided that, in all disputes concerning the protection of children, as well as the exercise or deprivation of parental rights, the courts had always to act in the best interest of the child and were under an obligation, before giving a decision, to have regard to the reports and expert opinions from Social Care Centres, family counselling services or other institutions specialised in mediation in family relations. 66.     Article   280 of the same Act defined all maintenance actions as “particularly urgent”. The first hearing had to be scheduled within eight days of the action being instituted and the second-instance courts had to decide on appeals within fifteen days. CONSTITUTIONAL APPEAL PROCESS 67.     The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia ( Ustav Republike Srbije ; published in OG RS   no.   98/06) came into force on 8 November 2006. The Constitutional Court declines jurisdiction ratione temporis to decide on constitutional appeals concerning decisions and/or acts that occurred before that date (see Practice directions adopted by the Constitutional Court as regards the examination of and ruling on constitutional appeals, Stavovi Ustavnog suda u postupku ispitivanja i odlučivanja po ustavnoj žalbi se odnose na postupak prethodnog ispitivanje ustavne žalbe , adopted on 30   October 2008 and 2   April 2009). 68 .     Article   32   §   1 provides, inter alia , for the right to a hearing within a reasonable time. The Constitution does not contain a provision on the right to respect for family life, which corresponds to Article   8 of the Convention. Article   65 guarantees that parents have the right and responsibility to support and provide an upbringing and education for their children, in which they are equal. THE LAW ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 8 OF THE CONVENTION 69.     The applicant complained under Article   6 § 1 of the Convention that owing to the excessive length of the proceedings in the domestic courts relating to the contact arrangements and the overall lack of diligence on the part of the domestic authorities, he had been deprived for several years from having, as a non-resident parent, extended and more quality time with his son and from being able to effectively exercise his parental rights. 70.     The Court considers that the main legal issue raised by the application concerns the applicant’s inability to have extended contact with his son for a protracted period of time, that is, his right to respect for his family life. The Court therefore considers, being the master of the characterisation to be given in law to the facts of any case before it (see Radomilja and Others v.   Croatia [GC], nos. 37685/10 and 22768/12, §§ 114-15, 20 March 2018), that the issues raised by the applicant’s complaint under Article 6 § 1 fall to be examined principally under Article 8 of the Convention in view of the State’s positive and procedural obligations in the sphere of family life (see, mutatis mutandis , Süß v.   Germany , no. 40324/98, §   110, 10 November 2005; Diamante and Pelliccioni v. San Marino , no.   32250/08, §§   150-51, 27   September 2011; S.I. v. Slovenia , no.   45082/05, §   56, 13   October 2011; and Milovanović v. Serbia , no.   56065/10, §   92, 8 October 2019, with further references), the relevant part of which reads as follows: Article 8 “1.     Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life ... 2.     There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society ... for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.” Admissibility Compliance with the six-month rule 71.     The Government submitted that the applicant’s complaint should be rejected for non-observance of the six-month rule. Referring to the judgment in Gobec v.   Slovenia (no.   7233/04, §§   109-11, 3 October 2013), they invited the Court to examine separately the applicant’s different complaints. According to the Government, the applicant had failed to bring his case to the Court within the six-month time-limit, which had started to run as of the date the applicant had or should have become aware that the relevant parts of the courts’ judgments concerning his complaints had become final and enforceable. In particular, the relevant part of the court’s decision of 13 June 2007 in respect of the applicant’s application for overnight stays had allegedly become final on 29 October 2007, as only the respondent had pursued a further remedy, and the applicant had benefited from such contact as of 3   November 2007 (see paragraph 39 above). Furthermore, the applicant’s application for contact during the holidays had been decided by a judgment of 3   February 2009 and had immediately become final (see paragraph 56 above), and he had also spent a part of the summer and winter holidays in August 2008 and January 2009 with his son (see paragraphs 50 and 54 above). The Government further challenged the relevance of the Constitutional Court’s decision for the calculation of the time-limit, as the present case had not been examined before it from the standpoint of Article   8 of the Convention. Taking into account that the application had been lodged on 26   December 2011, the Government invited the Court to declare the present application inadmissible as out of time. 72.     The applicant did not provide any comment in response to the Government’s objection. 73.     Having regard to the aim of the six-month rule and the relevant general principles (see, for example, Sabri Güneş v.   Turkey   [GC], no.   27396/06, §§   48-49, 29 June 2012), the Court considers that the present case does not raise any issue in respect of tardiness in lodging the application. As a matter of clarification, the contact schedule governing the weekly, overnight and holiday contact between the applicant and his son was established within the same civil proceedings, unlike in Gobec where it was established in three separate sets of administrative and civil proceedings and no further constitutional remedy was available (see Gobec , cited above, §   110). The applicant in the present case availed himself of a constitutional appeal, an available legal remedy at the relevant time (see Vinčić and Others v. Serbia , nos. 44698/06 and 30 others, §   51, 1   December 2009). The Court reiterates that Article 35 § 1 cannot be interpreted in a manner which would require an applicant to seize the Court of his complaint before his position in connection with the matter has been finally settled at the domestic level. Having regard to the Constitutional Court’s decision of 2 November 2011, it is to be noted that it examined the overall facts and length of the main matrimonial proceedings, without breaking down the matrimonial proceedings itself or making any reference to the applicant’s failure to comply with the time-limits laid down in domestic law. The Court considers that it would be unduly formalistic in the present circumstances to require the applicant to have made separate complaints about each and every different part of the main proceedings to the Constitutional Court and subsequently to the Court in the manner suggested by the Government (see, mutatis mutandis , Milovanović , cited above, §§   105 ‑ 07, where the Court also adopted a global approach when considering the domestic proceedings and had regard to the overall facts which it found to be important for the context and merits in the context of the continuous non-enforcement of custody and contact-related rights under Article   8; see also Šobota-Gajić v.   Bosnia and Herzegovina , no.   27966/06, §   45, 6   November 2007). 74.     Given that the final decision in the process of exhaustion of domestic remedies was delivered on 2   November 2011 and that the application was lodged