Our Civil Code currently in force (hereinafter: Civil Code) provides for parental custody as follows—highlighting the following key provisions of the act, without claiming completeness:
Legal status of the minor; parental custody rights and obligations
A minor child is under parental custody or guardianship.
The scope of parental custody includes the right and duty to determine the minor child's name, care, upbringing, determination of residence, management of property, and legal representation, as well as the right to designate a guardian or exclude a person from guardianship.
The Civil Code primarily regulates parental custody for situations where the parents live in the same household and both exercise parental custody. A separate agreement between the parents is required when the parents no longer live together. The law specifies that in the case of joint exercise of parental custody, the parents' rights and duties are equal, and the parents must exercise parental custody in cooperation with each other, in the interest of the child's proper physical, intellectual, and moral development. Parents must properly involve their child in decisions—taking into account their age and capacity for discernment—and give appropriate weight to their opinion in light of their age and maturity.
Parental custody rights comprise the following scope:
Determination of the child's name
The child bears the birth or married family name of either the father or the mother. The child may also bear the hyphenated/joined family name of both parents, even if the parents do not bear their family names in this manner after marriage, or if they are not married. A child's family name may consist of a maximum of two elements. All common children born during a marriage must have the same family name—unless the parents changed their own family names during the marriage. The child's given name is determined by the parents.
Care and upbringing of the child
Care of the child and determination of residence: It is the right and duty of parents to care for the child and to ensure the conditions necessary for the child's livelihood and upbringing. Parents are required to provide housing for their child in their own household. Unless a court or the guardianship authority rules otherwise, the child's domicile is the residence of the parents, even if the child temporarily resides elsewhere.
A parent or the guardianship authority may demand the return of the child from anyone who unlawfully detains the child. A child who has reached sixteen years of age may leave the parents' residence or another place of residence designated by the parents without parental consent, subject to the approval of the guardianship authority, if it is not contrary to the child's best interests.
A child may reside abroad for an extended period—such as for studies, employment, or other similar purposes—independently or with one parent, subject to the agreement of both parents.
A child's departure abroad for the purpose of permanent settlement requires parental consent to that effect.
Choice of upbringing and career path: Parents have the right to choose the method of the child's upbringing. Taking into account the child's abilities, the parents and the child jointly decide on the career path the child should prepare for.
In the event of a dispute between parent and child regarding the choice of career path and, in connection with this, the child's education or choice of school, the guardianship authority makes the decision.
Management of the child's property
Parents exercising parental custody have the right and duty to manage all assets of their child that are not exempt from their management by law.
Parents are obligated to spend that portion of the income generated from the child's property remaining after paying expenses associated with the property on the child's justified needs.
Legal representation of the child
Parents exercising parental custody have the right and duty to represent their child in personal and property matters. A parent's right of representation does not extend to legal statements that, by law, can only be made personally by the child.
Unless otherwise provided by law, a parent may not represent their child in matters where the parent, their spouse, cohabiting partner, direct-line relative, or another person under their legal representation is an opposing party to the child.
If the parent exercising legal representation cannot act in the child's matter due to law or an order of the guardianship authority, a conflict of interest, or another factual obstacle, the guardianship authority appoints an ad hoc guardian for the child.