INTRODUCTION

Research shows that an ever-increasing number of child maintenance payments involve transnational elements. The European Union has no right to ignore these trends in order to provide minimum guarantees for European citizens. In this regard Article 65 of the EC Treaty, which speaks of measures in the field of judicial cooperation in civil matters having cross-border implications, is of crucial importance. It provides a basis for two types of initiatives. First, the official efforts to establish simplified rules of procedure in relation to child maintenance obligations have been made. Second, attempts to lay theoretical as well as practical foundations for harmonizing and unifying substantive family law are evident.

Although child maintenance is still behind other fields of family law where practical harmonisation steps have already taken place, it is rather a question of time when this will happen as the recent research in this field reveals great differences in EU Member States` legal systems. Bearing in mind the substantial amount of scepticism towards the possibility of family law harmonisation, a comparative look at the child maintenance laws of three EU countries – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – which were once already unified could be important. An overview and comparison of family legislation developed in each country after the re-establishment of independence might contribute to the search for an answer to the following question: are child maintenance laws suitable for harmonization at all?

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Often described as the ‘Baltic states’ and considered to be one region, in the 1940s Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were included in the territory of the Soviet Union. During the period of Soviet rule all three countries experienced the impact of the unification of all legal spheres, including family law.

THE PERIOD OF SOVIET OCCUPATION

The developments in the three countries` family laws during the period of occupation encompass three main periods:

1. The period of Russian family law. The Soviet occupation of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in 1940 suspended the family legislation of the former independent states. A decree issued by the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet on November 26, 1940 applied the civil legislation of the Russian Federation to the Baltic countries; in particular, the Russian Federation's Code on Matrimony, Family and Wardship adopted on November 19, 1926 came into force.