Obligación Subsidiaria en alimentos y el interés superior del niño en una cultura de paz

Abstract

To analyze the subsidiary obligation of child support in Ecuador as a mechanism aimed at effectively guaranteeing the best interests of the child, emphasizing that the right to child support is not merely a private conflict between adults but a fundamental guarantee of rights that also involves the State; although the Ecuadorian legal system clearly establishes that the primary obligation to provide support rests with the parents and, exceptionally, with other relatives such as grandparents or close family members when the impossibility or insufficiency of the principal obligor is proven, the research shows that this subsidiarity has been insufficiently developed both in legal doctrine and in judicial practice, lacking clear criteria to assess the economic capacity of subsidiary obligors, to distribute the burden proportionally, and to adequately justify judicial decisions, which leads to unequal outcomes and legal uncertainty; although the jurisprudence of the National Court of Justice and the Constitutional Court has made progress by stating that subsidiarity must be exceptional, reasoned, and proportional, and by reaffirming that child support is owed from the filing of the claim in protection of the best interests of the child, gaps remain that affect the extended family, particularly older adults; finally, the study incorporates a peace culture approach, noting that the system has focused on enforcement and sanctions but has reflected little on how to manage these conflicts without deepening family tensions, and therefore proposes interpreting and applying the subsidiary obligation of child support in a manner consistent with the best interests of the child, equity among relatives, and practices of dialogue, mediation, and shared family responsibility.