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Belgian Penal Code Art. 432 — Non-représentation d'enfant

TL;DR. Withholding a child from court-ordered contact is a crime in Belgium under Penal Code Article 432 — non-représentation d'enfant. Punishable by up to 1 year imprisonment plus fine. Most targeted parents have never been told. The PV (procès-verbal) is filed at any commissariat; the parquet decides whether to prosecute. Most first-time PVs are classés sans suite, but each builds the pattern. The third one rarely gets ignored.

Maintained by Alan Markson · Last reviewed: 2026-05-15 · License: CC BY 4.0

The text (Code pénal, Art. 432, current form)

Sera puni d'un emprisonnement d'un mois à un an et d'une amende de 26 euros à 1 000 euros, ou d'une de ces peines seulement, le père ou la mère qui ne représentera pas l'enfant mineur à la personne qui a le droit de le réclamer.

(Anyone who fails to present a minor child to the person entitled to claim them — the father or mother — shall be punished with imprisonment from one month to one year and a fine from 26 to 1,000 euros, or by one of these penalties alone.)

Court / parquet pathway

  1. Confirm a court order exists specifying contact (jugement or accord parental homologated by the family court)
  2. Document the obstruction event — date, time, location, what was denied
  3. Go to ANY commissariat (your local zone de police)
  4. File a plainte under Penal Code Art. 432 — or minimum, a PV de plainte
  5. Request a copy of the PV with the reference number before leaving
  6. Forward to your family-law attorney within 48 hours

The parquet (public prosecutor) decides whether to prosecute. Most first-time PVs are classed sans suite (no prosecution). This is normal — the parquet wants to see a pattern. Each PV builds the pattern. The third typically gets attention.

Significance for parental alienation

The Belgian system provides one of Europe's strongest criminal tools against PA-style contact obstruction. The procedure runs in parallel with civil enforcement under Civil Code Art. 387ter (astreintes) and ECHR Art. 8 enforcement doctrine (Bondavalli v. Italy 2015 + Improta v. Italy 2017).

Even when the parquet classes sans suite, the PV becomes:

  • Contemporaneous evidence of obstruction usable in the family court
  • Documentation the alienator cannot claim was "made up"
  • Foundation for an eventual ECHR claim if Belgium fails to act
Code Article Function
Code pénal Art. 432 Criminal — non-représentation d'enfant
Code civil Art. 374 §2 Civil — autorité parentale conjointe (default)
Code civil Art. 387ter Civil — astreintes for non-execution
Code civil Art. 375bis Civil — beau-parent / grandparent access rights
Code civil Art. 1253ter/4 Civil — juge de la famille discretion over supervised-visit modalities
# Post
50 https://www.antialienate.com/blog/how-to-file-police-report-belgium-parental-alienation
14 https://www.antialienate.com/blog/belgium-equal-custody-paradise
59 https://www.antialienate.com/blog/when-international-authorities-get-involved
61 https://www.antialienate.com/blog/supervised-visits-belgium
13 https://www.antialienate.com/blog/echr-article-8-eu-legal-weapon
  • Code pénal belge (official): https://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/cgi_loi/loi.pl
  • Belgian SPF Justice (Central Authority for international cases): https://justice.belgium.be
  • Find your zone de police: https://www.police.be

Disclaimer

Wiki entry, not legal advice. Consult a Belgian avocat in family law before filing.

CC BY 4.0 · antialienate.com