Child custody in Lithuania

Both parents have equal rights and duties in respect of their children. They decide education and other matters by mutual agreement, and the court resolves disputes.

The same equal rights and duties apply whether the child was born to a married or an unmarried couple. The official fact sheet does not describe how the father's position is established.

The unmarried father, in one line: Both parents have it, married or not, once the father's paternity is established.

In a divorce by mutual consent the court approves the spouses' agreement on the children's residence, maintenance and each parent's role in education. In a contested divorce the court decides the children's residence and maintenance. Parents with joint custody decide jointly, and the court resolves disagreements. Sole custody is limited to cases where the other parent's parental authority is restricted.

The official fact sheet does not describe a right of the child to be heard.

The official fact sheet does not cover moving. It covers jurisdiction and applicable law under the EU regulation and the Hague Conventions.

Lithuania is a party to the 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention, which lets a parent ask for a child wrongly taken to another country to be returned. It works only with countries that have accepted its accession, so check the other country on the treaty status table.

Within the EU, Regulation (EU) 2019/1111 (called Brussels IIb) decides which country's courts handle parental responsibility: in principle the courts of the country where the child habitually lives, and it speeds up the return of a child wrongly taken to another member state. Denmark does not take part in it.

Lithuania belongs to the Civil law family. Family law grows out of the legal tradition, so it helps to know how the system works.

Read the Lithuania legal-system profile in the Legal Families Atlas →
Who owns what in a marriage in Lithuania? →
Divorce rate and trend in Lithuania →

• European e-Justice Portal: parental responsibility, child custody and contact rights in Lithuania