Child custody in Slovenia
In Slovenia both parents have the main and equal responsibility for the child, and on separation they agree on custody or the court decides.
Updated October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
If the parents are married
Parents have the main and an equal responsibility for the child's care, upbringing and development (Art. 135 of the Family Code). They exercise it by common consent in the child's interest.
If the parents are not married
Children born to unmarried parents have the same rights and duties as children born to married parents. Family relations begin with birth, or with the establishment of paternity.
The unmarried father, in one line: Both parents have it, married or not, once the father's paternity is established.
After a divorce or separation
Parents who do not live together must agree on custody: joint, to one parent, or divided between them. If they cannot agree, a social services centre helps, mediation is optional and then the court decides. Where there is no joint custody, both parents still decide significant matters together, and the parent with custody decides day-to-day matters and the child's permanent residence.
What the child can say
The court considers the child's opinion if the child can understand its significance and consequences. It may come from the child or from a trusted person the child chose. No minimum age is stated.
Moving house or moving abroad with the child
The official fact sheet does not cover moving. The parent with custody decides the child's permanent residence, but major decisions are still joint.
If the parents live in different countries
Slovenia 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.
Understand the legal system first
Slovenia 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 Slovenia legal-system profile in the Legal Families Atlas →
Who owns what in a marriage in Slovenia? →
Divorce rate and trend in Slovenia →
Official sources
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TheLawToKnow Tools’s child custody guide is an educational overview of general rules. It is not legal advice, and it does not replace the official source or a lawyer in the country. Report a mistake.
