Child custody in the Netherlands

Both parents generally hold parental authority, which is the duty and right to care for and raise the minor child.

An unmarried mother has sole authority at first. The father who has acknowledged the child can share it by joint registration in the court register, or by a court decision.

The unmarried father, in one line: The mother has it; the father needs a step: a joint declaration, registration, agreement, or living with the mother at the birth.

Both parents keep parental authority and remain responsible for the child. On application the court can give custody to one parent. With joint custody both parents have the same rights and duties as a custodial parent, unless the parenting plan divides tasks differently. A sole custodian must inform and consult the other on important matters but takes the final decision. The court can decide the child's main residence.

The official fact sheet does not say when the child is heard. Dutch courts invite children from twelve to give their views.

The official fact sheet does not cover moving.

The Netherlands 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.

• Parents who divorce must file a parenting plan, which sets how they share care and decisions.

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

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