Obligation of the court to give reasons

Duty of the court to give reasons

The court's duty to give reasons concerns a typical question of Swiss family and procedural law. For the legal assessment, what matters is not buzzwords or personal attributions, but the established facts, the relevant legal basis and the concrete effects of the requested or ordered measure.

Courts must distinguish between party submissions, documented facts, evidence and their own findings. An application does not yet prove the factual prerequisites for it. Conversely, a relevant, documented fact must not be ignored solely because it was submitted by a party.

In family law, the best interests of the child are central in matters concerning children. At the same time, procedural guarantees such as the right to be heard, access to files, comprehensible reasoning and a proper assessment of evidence apply. Interventions must be suitable, necessary and proportionate.

A good legal documentation therefore specifies the date, document type, author or official role, the content of the specific act and its procedural status. It avoids motives that are not substantiated and explicitly indicates whether something is an allegation by a party, an authority’s action, a judicial finding, or an editorial classification.

For affected persons it is often crucial to keep a complete chronology, to retain submissions and served documents, and to ensure that requests are clearly formulated. Where the factual situation changes, it must be examined whether new facts can still be introduced in the ongoing proceedings and which legal remedies are available.

Further posts

Editorial expert article. Not individual legal advice. Prior to publication, the status of legislation and case law and the sources must be checked again.