Child custody in Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan follows the model of the former Soviet family codes: both parents have equal rights and duties, and the court decides the child's residence if they cannot agree.
Updated October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
A general outline, not a checked profile
We have not yet researched Turkmenistan line by line. This page describes how countries with the same legal tradition usually work, so that the map is not blank, and it can differ from the law in Turkmenistan. Reliable, current information is hard to find for many African countries: laws are often not published online or not translated, customary and religious rules are unwritten or differ from one community to the next, and reforms are not always reported.
Can you help? If you know the rule in Turkmenistan, or you work with its law, please email us what it says and where it is written. We will check it and update the page, with credit if you wish.
If the parents are married
Parents have equal rights and duties towards their children.
If the parents are not married
A father whose paternity has been acknowledged or established has the same rights as a married father.
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
The parents' rights remain equal after separation, and they can agree where the child lives. If they cannot, the court decides in the child's interests, and the parent who lives apart keeps the right to contact.
What the child can say
The court takes account of the child's opinion, and in many countries of this model the child's consent is needed from about ten.
Moving house or moving abroad with the child
Where both parents have parental responsibility, taking a child to live abroad generally needs both parents' agreement or a court's permission. Check the rules before any move.
If the parents live in different countries
Turkmenistan 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.
Understand the legal system first
Turkmenistan 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 Turkmenistan legal-system profile in the Legal Families Atlas →
Who owns what in a marriage in Turkmenistan? →
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.
