Alternating custody between parents remains too rare in Switzerland, compared to sole custody for One with visiting rights for the other. But it is not the fault of the law nor that of the judges. This is the conclusion reached by the Federal Council last Wednesday, when two studies it had commissioned were published. First, in 90% of cases of separation, the parents agree on their own and “joint custody is rarely chosen” and in all cases where the parents requested it, it was accepted.
The cases where things get stuck, the courts noted, are when only one of the parents makes the request. “All come from the father, never from the mother or the children, and it is certain that there were refusals,” it is noted. In recent years, progress has been made. “The Federal Council notes with satisfaction the sharp reduction in the proportion of fathers who see their children very rarely or only during the day,” he said.
However, there is still a way to go. “The distribution of care remains unequal and forms of equal shared care remain uncommon,” says the government, which wants to encourage them. Parliament will have the opportunity to do so because it has several texts on the table. One of them calls for joint custody to become the rule. “The judge must preserve the good and interests of the child. He will intervene in the separation process by deciding on joint custody,” hopes Marco Romano (C/TI).
The National Council accepted its text. The States Commission, on the other hand, was waiting for the publication of last week’s studies to make its decision. However, they plead for the idea to be refused. “Making equal shared custody an express norm of law would simply not be feasible for many parents, and therefore this principle would not be applicable. Imposing it would not solve the problems,” believes the Federal Council, which prefers decisions on a case-by-case basis.
A little more in French-speaking Switzerland
“According to one of the studies, joint custody is more common in French-speaking Switzerland,” noted the government. According to its authors, this should be seen as “a reflection of the better professional integration of French-speaking mothers before separation or divorce”. Studies highlight the fact that the situation which prevailed before the separation largely influences the type of custody subsequently chosen. “A distribution that is as equal as possible is especially successful in cases where the parents took care of the children in an equal manner already during their life together,” we read.
