This paper aims to present how the courts in the Republic of North Macedonia
have handled family disputes during the state of emergency instituted due to
the COVID-19 pandemic. The research on this issue is motivated by the principle
of urgency. In proceedings for exercising parental rights, there are certain
exceptions from the general litigation procedure which are embodied in the
limited application of the disposition principle, the predominant application of
the investigative principle, the exclusion of general public, and the urgency of
proceedings. In particular, the author focuses on the judicial practice pertaining
to the rights of the child. A comparative analysis of case law demonstrates how
Macedonian courts decided in these lawsuits and whether they were guided by
the principle of the best interest of the child. It inevitably gives rise to the following
question: in exercising the judicial authorities vested by the legislator,
do courts in family proceedings really take into consideration the rights and the
best interest of the child? For the purposes of this research, the author has used
several methods: the analytical-descriptive method, the comparative method
and, in one segment, the statistical method.
Keywords: family disputes, litigation proceedings, emergency situation, principle
of urgency, best interest of the child, custody, child care
