Shared custody law in France (résidence alternée): what the rules say in 2026

No — French law has no presumption of résidence alternée (alternating residence) and no default arrangement. Article 373-2-9 of the Code civil says the child's residence may be fixed alternately at the home of each parent or at the home of one of them: two options named in the alternative, with no stated preference and nothing for either parent to disprove. Where the parents cannot agree, the choice belongs to the juge aux affaires familiales (JAF), the family judge of the tribunal judiciaire, who must pay special attention to safeguarding minor children's interests.

Parental authority is a separate question and it does not move: autorité parentale is exercised in common by both parents, and separation has no effect on that. What the judge settles is where the child lives and on what terms. The residence rule has not changed for years — art. 373-2-9 has read as it does since 16 March 2016 — and a bill that would make alternating residence the default where the parents disagree was deposited in January 2025, referred to committee, and has gone no further.

What French law says about custody and residence

French law separates two things that English runs together. Autorité parentale is the bundle of rights and duties whose purpose is the child's interest (art. 371-1). Both parents exercise it in common (art. 372), and their separation has no effect on the rules governing who exercises it (art. 373-2). The same article requires each parent to maintain a personal relationship with the child and to respect the child's ties with the other parent.

Résidence is the second thing: where the child habitually lives. Art. 373-2-9 al. 1 provides that the residence may be fixed alternately at the home of each parent, or at the home of one of them. Nothing in the article ranks the two, and no provision in force creates a presumption, priority or default. Where the parents disagree, the judge may order alternating residence provisionally for a period he determines, and then rule definitively (al. 2). Where residence is fixed at one parent's home, the judge sets the other parent's droit de visite, which may be refused only on serious grounds (art. 373-2-1).

Most of this is settled without a hearing: it is first for the parents to choose, and the judge decides only if they cannot agree. Parents may put their own agreement — a convention parentale — to the judge, who approves it unless it does not sufficiently protect the child's interest or consent was not free (art. 373-2-7). Nothing is permanent: any approved agreement or decision may be modified at any time (art. 373-2-13).

Résidence alternée also does not have to mean equal time. The Cour de cassation held in 2007 that art. 373-2-9 does not require the time the child spends with the father and with the mother to be of the same duration.

Sources: [1], [2], [3], [5], [9], [10], [13]

How the family judge decides

Art. 373-2-11 lists what the judge takes into account when ruling on how parental authority is exercised. Because the list is introduced by notamment ("in particular"), it is not exhaustive:

1. the practice the parents previously followed, or any agreement they had reached before;
2. the minor child's expressed feelings, gathered under art. 388-1;
3. each parent's ability to assume their duties and to respect the other parent's rights;
4. the results of any expert assessment, taking the child's age into account;
5. the findings of any social inquiry or counter-inquiry;
6. pressure or violence, physical or psychological, by one parent on the person of the other.

Point 2 is often misread: a minor child never determines their own place of residence, whatever their age. The child may ask to be heard, and what they say is one factor among several.

Violence overrides the rest. Since 18 March 2024 the exercise of parental authority and the droits de visite et d'hébergement of a parent prosecuted or under investigation for the crimes the law lists are suspended by operation of law.

One phrase circulates as if it were a presumption. In a written answer of 2 March 2023 the ministry of justice said current law already requires the judge to consider alternating residence as the first hypothesis, because it is named first in art. 373-2-9 al. 1 — while adding that equal alternating residence cannot be a single model for everyone. That is a reading of the article's word order, not a rule in the Code. The same answer reports that parents agree on the residence arrangements themselves in about 80 % of situations.

Sources: [3], [4], [9], [10], [11], [13], [16]

Shared care in practice: how common, and what it costs

Because equal time is not required, an alternating-residence order can be a week with each parent or an uneven division of the fortnight. Our alternating weeks and 50/50 guides lay the common patterns out on a calendar; shared custody terms worldwide sets the French words beside their equivalents.

How common is it? Insee, the national statistics office, reports that in 2023 14 % of the children of separated parents lived as much with one parent as with the other — 4 % of all minor children, against 3 % in 2018. Of the children of separated parents, 73 % lived exclusively with one parent and 13 % mainly with one. The two percentages measure different populations.

On the court side, the ministry of justice records 189,263 applications to the JAF in 2024 about the care of minor children after a family break-up; 89 % concerned parental authority, habitual residence or contact, and cases took 7.4 months on average. An older ministry study found alternating residence in 17 % of decisions, less often for young children (13 %) and unmarried parents (11 %).

Money. Alternating residence does not cancel child support: art. 371-2 makes each parent contribute in proportion to their resources and the child's needs, and the Code civil sets no formula. The table the ministry publishes on justice.fr has a distinct alterné case — the child residing alternately with each parent, equally — at a lower percentage band than the classique case. Where support is set in cash it normally runs through the CAF or MSA rather than parent to parent. Benefits do not simply halve either: only the allocations familiales can be split between parents in garde alternée, and other family benefits go to one designated allocataire.

Sources: [7], [8], [10], [14], [15], [17], [18], [19]

French custody terms, in plain English

French term	What it means
autorité parentale	Parental authority: the rights and duties of art. 371-1, exercised in common by both parents and unaffected by separation. Decision-making authority, not a statement about where the child sleeps.
résidence alternée	The legal term for the child living alternately at each parent's home (art. 373-2-9 al. 1). One of two options, not a default, and not necessarily equal time.
garde alternée	The everyday word for the same thing, used in speech and on CAF and justice.fr pages. It is not a Code civil term.
droit de visite et d'hébergement (DVH)	The other parent's right to see the child and to have the child stay overnight — contact and overnight stays, not visits only. Refusable only on serious grounds.
juge aux affaires familiales (JAF)	The delegated judge of the tribunal judiciaire who rules on parental authority, residence, contact and child support.
pension alimentaire	Child support: the art. 371-2 contribution to the child's maintenance and education, proportional to each parent's resources. More words in the custody glossary.

Sources: [1], [3], [5], [6], [7], [10], [13]

Recent changes

• 29 January 2026 Passed first reading; pending at the Sénat — not in force

  PPL n° 1085 "relative à l'intérêt des enfants" goes to the Sénat

  The Assemblée nationale adopted the bill in first reading and sent it to the Sénat the same day; at 27 September 2026 the Sénat dossier records no further step. For separated parents it would add protective powers under art. 373-2-1, with a criminal offence for breaching them. It does not touch art. 373-2-9 or the residence options.

  Official source: Sénat — dossier législatif PPL n° 326 (2025-2026)

• 1 December 2025 In force

  Each parent in résidence alternée can claim the CMG

  Each of the two parents of a child in résidence alternée can now be recognised as an allocataire of the complément de libre choix du mode de garde for the same child, for the childcare hours they bear — a separate entitlement each, not one amount halved.

  Official source: Légifrance — décret n° 2025-515 of 30 May 2025

• 21 January 2025 Bill pending — no movement

  PPL n° 819 would make résidence alternée the default

  The bill would replace the first alinéa of art. 373-2-9 so that, absent agreement, the judge fixes alternating residence in principle unless one parent shows it is contrary to the child's best interest, with an adaptation period and a duty to give special reasons. It was referred to the commission des lois and the dossier records no step since.

  Official source: Assemblée nationale — dossier PPL n° 819

• 20 March 2024 In force

  LOI n° 2024-233 suspends authority and contact in the gravest cases

  The exercise of parental authority and the droits de visite et d'hébergement of a parent prosecuted or under investigation for a crime against the other parent, for incestuous sexual assault, or for a crime against the child are suspended by operation of law until the family judge rules or the criminal court decides.

  Official source: Légifrance — LOI n° 2024-233 of 18 March 2024

Frequently asked questions

Sources