Shared Custody Around the World: Garde Alternée, Wechselmodell, Custodia Compartida and More

Parents living through the same experience call it by completely different names depending on where they live: garde alternée in France, Wechselmodell in Germany, custodia compartida in Spain and much of Latin America. The concept underneath is largely the same — a child splits their time living between both parents' homes on some kind of regular rotation — but the legal weight of the term, how common the arrangement actually is, and even the closest English equivalent, vary by country. This is a plain-language tour of the vocabulary, not a legal guide. Family law is set at the country level, and often regionally within a country, so confirm anything that affects your case with a local family-law professional.

France — Garde alternée / résidence alternée

Garde alternée, sometimes called résidence alternée in the more precise legal vocabulary French courts use, describes an arrangement where a child's official residence alternates between both parents' homes, most commonly on a week-on/week-off basis. French family courts have generally leaned toward preserving both parents' involvement after separation, and alternating residence is a well-established, mainstream option rather than an exception — though a judge still decides based on the child's situation, and equal alternating weeks is far from the only outcome.

Germany & Austria — Wechselmodell / Residenzmodell

Wechselmodell ("alternating model") is the German-language term for a shared-residence arrangement where a child spends roughly equal time in each parent's home. It sits alongside the more traditional Residenzmodell ("residence model"), in which the child has one primary home and the other parent has scheduled parenting time (Umgangsrecht). German courts have historically treated the Residenzmodell as the default, though the Wechselmodell has gained clearer legal recognition in recent years. Practice still varies by court and region, so what's typical in one German city can differ from another.

Spain — Custodia compartida

Custodia compartida ("shared custody") is used across Spain and most Spanish-speaking Latin American countries to describe joint physical custody, where both parents share meaningful residential time with the child — as opposed to custodia exclusiva or custodia monoparental (sole custody), with a visitation schedule for the other parent. Spanish family law has moved toward treating shared custody as a legitimate, and in some autonomous communities preferred, arrangement over the past couple of decades, though the exact standard and how courts apply it still differs by region within the country.

Brazil & Portugal — Guarda compartilhada

Guarda compartilhada ("shared guardianship" or "shared custody") is the Portuguese-language term used in both Brazil and Portugal. In Brazil, a change to the civil code made shared custody the arrangement judges must apply by default whenever both parents are fit to care for the child, unless one parent doesn't want it or there's a specific reason it wouldn't serve the child's interests — a notably strong legal presumption toward shared custody compared with many other countries. It's worth noting that guarda compartilhada in Brazilian law refers primarily to shared decision-making responsibility and doesn't automatically mean an equal 50/50 living-time split; the residential schedule is set separately.

Sweden — Växelvis boende / Varannan vecka

Växelvis boende ("alternating living") is the formal Swedish term for a child living roughly equally with both parents after separation. In everyday conversation, Swedish parents are more likely to say varannan vecka — literally "every other week" — because the alternating-week schedule is so common it has become the colloquial shorthand for the arrangement itself. Sweden is often cited as having one of the higher rates of this kind of arrangement among separated families with children, reflecting both legal support for shared parenting and practical factors like extensive parental-leave norms — though exact prevalence figures vary by source and by how "shared" is defined.

Norway — Delt bosted

Delt bosted ("shared" or "divided residence") is the Norwegian equivalent of joint physical custody, distinguished from fast bosted ("fixed residence"), where the child has one primary home. Norwegian law recognizes delt bosted as a valid arrangement parents can agree to or a court can order, generally expecting a fairly high degree of cooperation between parents given the frequent transitions involved. As in neighboring Sweden, alternating-week patterns are common in practice, though the legal term itself doesn't specify any particular time split.

Czech Republic — Střídavá péče

Střídavá péče ("alternating care") is the Czech term for joint physical custody, where a child's residence alternates between both parents' homes on a recurring cycle. Czech courts have increasingly treated střídavá péče as a mainstream option rather than an exception in recent years, particularly when both parents live reasonably close to each other and can cooperate on schooling and logistics — though a sole-custody arrangement with visitation, often every other weekend, remains common as well, and outcomes depend heavily on the specifics of each case.

Poland — Opieka naprzemienna

Opieka naprzemienna ("alternating care") describes the same alternating-residence concept in Poland. It's a comparatively newer and less standardized option in Polish family courts than in some neighboring countries, and courts generally weigh factors like the parents' ability to communicate and their geographic proximity before ordering it. Polish practice more commonly defaults to one parent holding primary residential care with a defined contact schedule for the other parent, though opieka naprzemienna is increasingly discussed and requested.

Netherlands — Co-ouderschap

Co-ouderschap ("co-parenthood") is the Dutch umbrella term for shared parenting arrangements after separation, used broadly rather than referring to one specific schedule. Dutch law requires separating parents with children to draw up a parenting plan (ouderschapsplan) covering the division of care and major decisions, regardless of what time split they choose, and roughly equal alternating arrangements are common enough in the Netherlands that they're often discussed as one of the more typical outcomes among comparable countries — though, as elsewhere, exact norms depend on the specific family and any court involvement.

Israel — משמורת משותפת (Mishmoret meshutefet)

Mishmoret meshutefet ("joint" or "shared custody") is the Hebrew term for shared custody in Israel, as distinct from sole custody with a visitation arrangement (hesderei re'iya) for the other parent. Israeli family law and courts have moved over the past couple of decades toward more readily recognizing and awarding shared custody arrangements, including equal time-sharing in appropriate cases, though the country's civil family courts and, for certain matters involving Jewish couples, rabbinical courts both play a role, and outcomes are highly case-specific.

The concept is more universal than the vocabulary

Despite the different words and legal traditions, the underlying practice — a child dividing meaningful time between two homes after parents separate — has spread widely, and terminology differences shouldn't be mistaken for the arrangement itself being unusual anywhere on this list. If your family has moved countries, or is bilingual, you may find yourself needing several of these words for the same situation. Our custody & co-parenting glossary covers the US-focused vocabulary in more depth — think of this guide as its international companion — and our custody statistics roundup has sourced, country-by-country figures where they exist.

Frequently asked questions