The cost of legal prenuptial counseling proposed in the Draft Family Law Proposal will not be borne by future newlyweds, but by the budget – whether the prenuptial counseling is conducted in family centers, associations, by family mediators, or through printed brochures. However, it seems that the law’s proposers have not been overly concerned with how much this would cost and from which budgetary position it would be paid.
As Ljubica Matijević Vrsaljko, the coordinator of the working group for the development of the new family law, states, it is certain that this will not be any ideological counseling, at least for now, but its aim is to familiarize future spouses with their rights, as well as the obligations arising from the marital union.
Since there are no lawyers in at least some family centers, new ones will have to be hired. Namely, in just one family center in Zagreb, there are three psychologists, two social educators, two social workers, an educator, a sociologist, and an administrative officer employed. If the counseling is conducted by lawyers in non-governmental organizations, it is expected that they will not do this work for the state for free either.
From the Ministry of Social Policy and Youth, they respond that ‘it should certainly not be necessary to hire new lawyers or create additional costs, but rather existing resources should just be better organized.’ – If we decide on occasional printed materials, then the costs would be even lower – they replied from the Ministry.
