Child custody in Spain

Parents hold parental authority over minors, and as a general rule it is shared, so both decide on matters concerning the child, even if only one has been given custody.

The official fact sheet does not describe a mother-only default. If the parents live apart, authority is exercised by the parent the child lives with, and the other parent can ask the court for joint authority or a division of functions.

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

All rights and duties belong to both parents, except in exceptional circumstances. The court decides custody case by case in the child's interest: sole custody with visits for the other parent, joint custody with alternating periods, or exceptionally a third party. Joint custody typically alternates weeks or days, with alternate weekends and shared holidays. No shared-residence presumption is stated.

The judge hears the child if they are capable of judgement, and minors may be heard on the judge's own initiative or at the request of the prosecutor, the parties or the child. No minimum age is stated.

The child's habitual residence may be changed only with both parents' consent or, failing that, with the court's authorisation. Disputes over the place or country where the child lives can go to court.

Spain 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.

• Several regions, such as Aragon, Catalonia, Navarre and the Valencian Community, have their own rules, and some of them favour shared custody.

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

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