Shared custody law in the Czech Republic (střídavá péče): what changed on 1 January 2026

The Czech Republic has no statutory presumption of equal or shared care, and since 1 January 2026 the civil code no longer names any form of care at all. The court decides — the child's general court, in practice the district court where the child lives — and what it decides turns first on whether the parents agree. If they do, it rules that the child remains in the care of both parents and writes no share into the judgment. If they do not, it determines each parent's scope of care (rozsah péče) in the child's interest.

That is the work of Act No. 268/2025 Sb.: the three named forms Czech parents grew up with — výlučná, střídavá and společná péče — are gone from the statute, though they survive in everyday speech and on every order made before 2026, which the new law leaves standing. The Constitutional Court held in February 2025 that a perfectly symmetric alternating care has no support as the preferred model.

What Czech law says about shared care

Parental responsibility (rodičovská odpovědnost) belongs equally to both parents, and since 1 January 2026 § 858 lists its components, among them the child's place of residence.

Before a marriage can be dissolved the court must first determine how each parent will care for the child, departing from the parents' agreed position only where the child's interest requires it. Since 2026 the divorce case and the case about the child are joined, and the divorce becomes final no earlier than the decision about the child. Parents who never married, or separate without divorcing, reach the same options: absent agreement the court decides even without an application.

Section 907 then offers two shapes of order and no third. If the parents agree on it, the court rules that the child remains in the care of both parents, without determining either parent's scope of care — no schedule enters the judgment, and their own arrangement is what operates. Otherwise the court determines each parent's scope of care having regard to the child's interest, may attach conditions and may regulate indirect contact. There is no percentage, default pattern or burden of proof in the text.

The named forms went with the rewrite: the old § 907 odst. 1 listed care by one parent, střídavá péče and společná péče, and the replacement contains none of them. They survive in the statute only in the transitional provision, which leaves orders made before 2026 unaffected; they change only on a change of circumstances.

Three new provisions sit alongside § 907: the child's right to rovnocenná péče, care of equal worth, from both parents, and the parents' same right in respect of their child; a duty on a parent living apart to enable and cooperate with the other's care, with unjustified persistent or repeated obstruction a ground for a new decision; and, for the parent not caring at the time, a right to indirect contact and to information.

Sources: [1], [2]

How Czech courts decide

The statute is deliberately thin: the one criterion in § 907 odst. 2 is the child's interest, and § 866 makes the child's interests decisive for any decision on the extent of parental responsibility. The detail sits in the Constitutional Court's case law, read with its dates attached:

• 2014 — the “rule” formulation. In nález I. ÚS 2482/13 the Court held that where both parents are equally capable of and interested in caring for the child, and the child is equally deeply bonded to each, alternating care should be the rule and another solution the exception.
• 2014 — conflict does not settle it. In nález I. ÚS 3216/13 the Court held that alternating care cannot be excluded merely on an assessment of the relations between the parents; where conflict is insurmountable the courts must actively work to improve it.
• 2025 — no preference for a symmetric split. In nález I. ÚS 2364/24 the Court held that a perfectly symmetric alternating care — the 50:50 model with a one-week interval — has no support as the preferred model in the statute or in the constitutional order, and that the child is the main party, whose best interest stands above all other interests.

Both 2014 decisions were given on the § 907 that named alternating care; the section replacing it names nothing. Procedurally the court must lead the parties towards a settlement, state its preliminary view and cite higher-court case law, and may recommend mediation or family therapy — recommend, not order.

Sources: [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]

Shared care in practice

The Czech Statistical Office counts divorces, not arrangements. In 2024, 20.8 thousand marriages ended in divorce; 58 % of those couples had joint minor children, and divorce affected 19.3 thousand minor children. In 2025 there were 21.2 thousand divorces; parents who separate without marrying are not counted.

Money follows the route rather than the timetable. Where the court decides by agreement that the child remains in the care of both parents, it does not decide maintenance at all, beyond approving an agreement the parents made themselves. Where it determines each parent's scope of care, it always decides maintenance too — so whether a Czech judgment carries a figure depends on whether the parents agreed about care, not on how the days divide.

The amount has no statutory formula. The court must take account of the fact that the paying parent personally cares for the child and of the extent to which they do — a factor, not an equation, and not an end to the duty. Since 2026 it must also weigh a foreseeable change in the child's needs. Above both: the child's standard of living should in principle match the parents', and that criterion comes before the child's itemised needs.

On the agreement route the pattern is the parents' to write. Our guides to a 50/50 schedule, to alternating weeks and to worked schedule examples set out the common rhythms, and the parenting plan template covers what it has to answer.

Sources: [1], [8], [9]

The Czech words you will see

• rodičovská odpovědnost — parental responsibility: the bundle in § 858, from care and upbringing to representation and the child's place of residence. It belongs equally to both parents.
• péče obou rodičů and rozsah péče — “care of both parents”, the order made where the parents agree, into which no share is written; and “scope of care”, what the court sets for each parent where they do not.
• střídavá péče — “alternating care”. The term Czech law used until the end of 2025 and still the everyday word; it appears on every pre-2026 order, which the 2026 law leaves standing.
• rovnocenná péče — care “of equal worth” from both parents, a right of the child since 1 January 2026. Equal in worth, not equal in quantity.
• styk and nepřímý styk — contact, and contact by distance means: the parent not caring at the time keeps indirect contact and a right to information.
• výživné — child maintenance under §§ 910–923, with criteria rather than a formula.

Styk is contact, not visitation.

Sources: [1], [2]

Recent changes

• 1 January 2026 In force

  § 907 rewritten: the named forms of care are gone

  Act No. 268/2025 Sb. replaced § 907: exclusive, alternating and joint care no longer appear in the civil code. New §§ 888–891 add the child's right to care of equal worth, a duty to cooperate, obstruction as a ground to revisit an order, and indirect-contact rights. Pre-2026 orders are untouched.

  Official source: Act No. 268/2025 Sb.

• 1 January 2026 In force

  Divorce joined with the children's case, and maintenance follows the care route

  The divorce case now runs with the case on the child's arrangements, and the divorce becomes final no earlier than the decision about the child. A heading “agreed divorce” was inserted above § 757 and the six-month separate-living requirement deleted. On the agreement route the court does not fix maintenance, beyond approving the parents' own agreement; where it sets the scope of care it always fixes maintenance.

  Official source: Act No. 268/2025 Sb., amending Act No. 292/2013 Sb.

• 4 August 2025 Passed and published

  Act No. 268/2025 Sb. published in the Sbírka

  Submitted on 12 June 2024 as sněmovní tisk 728, passed at third reading on 28 May 2025, approved by the Senate on 3 July 2025, signed by the President on 17 July 2025 and published on 4 August 2025, to take effect on 1 January 2026.

  Official source: Chamber of Deputies, bill 728 (9th term)

• 5 February 2025 Constitutional Court ruling

  No preference for a symmetric 50:50 split

  In nález I. ÚS 2364/24 the Constitutional Court held that a perfectly symmetric alternating care — the 50:50 model with a one-week alternation interval — has no support as the preferred model in the statute or in the constitutional order, and that the child is the main party, whose best interest stands above all other interests.

  Official source: Ústavní soud, nález I. ÚS 2364/24

Frequently asked questions

Sources