Between legal and actual state: The concept of family in the practice of application of the act on family benefits

Abstract

The article ofers an analysis of the jurisprudence of administrative courts with regard to the way they interpret the definition of a family, used in the Act on family benefits. The practice of applying the concept of family for the purposes of establishing the income criterion entitling to apply for family benefits shows fundamental discrepancy in its understanding. On the one hand, it is related to the legal status of the applicant, and on the other hand, to the context of his actual state. The resulting problem concerns not only the lack of uniformity of jurisprudence, but also raises serious reservations in the systemic aspect. It undermines the way of identifying the family based on the criterion of origin, and thus in practice excludes the parents’ maintenance obligation towards their children, replacing it with public benefits.