ОВЛАШЋЕЊА ЈАВНИХ БЕЛЕЖНИКА У УРЕЂЕЊУ ПОРОДИЧНОПРАВНИХ ОДНОСА У ДРЖАВАМА НА ПРОСТОРУ БИВШЕ СФРЈ
THE NOTARY PUBLIC AUTHORITIES IN FAMILY-LAW MATTERS IN THE FORMER SFRY COUNTRIES

Summary/Abstract: Observing the basic postulates of the National Judicial Reform Strategy, the Republic of Serbia passed the Notary Public Act in 2011 and, after many decades, re-introduced this judicial profession into the national law by opting for the Latin (public) type of the notary public office. According to the amendments of the current Family Act of the Republic of Serbia, the role of notaries public in the sphere of family law relations is confined to a relatively narrow scope of activities. Thus, a notary public is authorised to take statements on acknowledgement of paternity and to draw up legal support (maintenance) agreements. The scope of responsibilities of a notary public also includes the attestation of content (solemnization) of a marital agreement, an agreement on the division of spouses’ community property, and an agreement on administration and disposition of the spouses’ community property. According to the original version of the Notary Public Act, a notary public was authorised to “notarise” and give effect to certain types of legal transactions (e.g. to take statements on compliance with the acknowledged paternity or on consent to the process of biomedically assisted impregnation). Under the amended Act, this authority is no longer part of the public notaries’ professional duties and legal protection mission. Relying on the legal solutions envisaged in contemporary legal systems within the European legal space, the theoretical standpoints of legal scholars pertaining to the notary public authorities in family law matters, as well as the actual notary public practice, we provide a critical analysis of the public notaries’ role in family law relations in the contemporary Serbian law. We also point to the justifiability of expanding the authorities of notaries public within this domain, and advocate for a higher degree of de-judicialization of civil law protection, particularly emphasising the need to vest them with the authority to administer uncontested consensual divorce cases.

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