Child custody in Luxembourg

Where parentage is established for both parents, they exercise parental authority jointly, whether or not they are married.

The rule is the same for unmarried parents. If parentage is established for only one parent, that parent exercises authority alone.

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

Joint exercise is the default and separation does not change it. The parents must act together on important decisions. For everyday acts, each parent is presumed to act with the other's agreement towards third parties acting in good faith. The court can give authority to one parent only where that serves the child's interests. The other parent keeps the right to be informed, to supervise the upbringing, and, except for serious reasons, contact and access.

The family judge personally hears each party. A minor who is capable of forming their own views may bring an application, and the child's expressed feelings are a factor the judge may consider. No minimum age is stated.

The official fact sheet says the exercise of parental responsibility follows the law of the child's habitual residence, which changes if that residence changes. It describes no consent or notice rule.

Luxembourg 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.

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

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