Shared custody law in Poland (opieka naprzemienna): what the rules say in 2026

Poland has no statutory presumption of equal or shared care, and the decision belongs to a court. The Family and Guardianship Code (Kodeks rodzinny i opiekuńczy, the KRO) contains no presumption and no shared-care model — the words naprzemienna and współdzielona do not appear in it. In a divorce or separation the regional court (sąd okręgowy) rules on parental authority and contact; otherwise the family court decides, as guardianship court (sąd opiekuńczy).

What the code does say is that parental authority (władza rodzicielska) belongs to both parents, and that without a written parenting agreement the court must weigh the child's right to be raised by both — a right to both parents, not to half the time. Alternating residence is still available: procedural law recognises a ruling that “the child will live with each of the parents in recurring periods” — what parents call opieka naprzemienna. Two bills that would write shared care into the code were pending in September 2026; neither is law.

What Polish law says about shared care

Under KRO art. 58 § 1 the court granting a divorce itself rules on parental authority over the couple's common minor child, on the parents' contact with the child, and on each spouse's share of the cost of the child's maintenance and upbringing. What keeps the arrangement in the parents' hands is a written agreement, which the court takes into account if it is consistent with the child's welfare. Art. 107 § 1 offers the same instrument to parents who live apart, including parents who never married.

Without an agreement the court — having regard to the child's right to be raised by both parents — rules on the manner of joint exercise of parental authority and on contact. It may instead entrust the exercise of parental authority to one parent and limit the other's to defined duties and rights regarding the child's person, where the child's welfare so indicates; art. 107 § 2 says the same for parents living apart.

Parental authority belongs to both parents. Each is obliged and entitled to exercise it, but the child's important matters are decided jointly, and if the parents cannot agree the guardianship court decides.

Alternating care sits outside the code, whose contact provision is written around a child who “stays permanently with one of the parents”. It lives in procedural law instead, described rather than named: the Code of Civil Procedure speaks of “a ruling in which the court determined that the child will live with each of the parents in recurring periods”, enforced through the same payment-backed machinery as a contact order (art. 582¹ § 4, art. 598²²) and available as interim relief (art. 756² § 1 pkt 3). The Supreme Court's Bureau of Studies and Analyses records that this power, doubted before 29 August 2015, is no longer contested.

Sources: [1], [2], [3], [6], [8], [10]

How Polish courts decide

There is no statutory checklist in force. The standard running through every provision is the child's welfare (dobro dziecka): an agreement is honoured only if consistent with it, and the guardianship court may determine how parental authority is exercised on account of it. Four things beyond that are visible in the law:

• The child's right to be raised by both parents, which the court must take into account whenever it rules without a parenting agreement.
• A written agreement consistent with the child's welfare, which leaves joint parental authority intact; the same provision says siblings should be brought up together unless the child's welfare requires otherwise.
• Whether the parents can decide together. Important matters must be decided jointly, so every disagreement otherwise returns to the guardianship court.
• Enforceability. An alternating-residence ruling is enforced like a contact order, backed by the threat of an order to pay a sum of money, and can be ordered as interim relief.

One widely repeated list is not law. Guides published in 2026 often print five criteria — the child's view; age and state of health; the parents' ability to communicate and cooperate; the distance between their places of stay; the existing division of parental duties. They come from the Ministry of Justice's draft (version of 5 March 2026), introduced there by “in particular”, and are not in force.

Sources: [1], [2], [3]

Shared care in practice, and what the numbers do not show

Poland's official statistics count something narrower than readers assume. Of 57,463 divorces in 2024, 32,943 involved minor children and affected 51,177 children. In those cases the court left the exercise of parental authority with both parents in 25,328 (76.9 %), with the mother alone in 6,301 (19.1 %) and with the father alone in 775 (2.4 %).

That 76.9 % is not a shared-time figure: it records who exercises parental authority, not where the child lives or how the days divide. GUS publishes no alternating-residence category, so there is no official Polish number for how often alternating care is ordered, and the Supreme Court records that there is no representative Polish research on its effects.

Money follows a court ruling, not a private arrangement. Where an order places the child in alternating care exercised in comparable and recurring periods, the 800+ child-raising benefit — 800.00 PLN a month per child — is set for each parent at half the amount, and a copy of the ruling goes with the application. In income tax, parents who jointly exercise parental authority under a ruling (piecza naprzemienna) and cannot agree split the child tax credit in equal parts.

Alternating care does not end child maintenance (alimenty). Its scope depends on the child's justified needs and on the earning and financial capacity of the parent who owes it — no percentage formula, no guideline table — and the duty may be performed wholly or partly by personal care of the child. The 800+ benefit is excluded from that calculation.

No provision in force prescribes a rhythm: procedural law says “recurring periods”, benefits law adds “comparable”. The pattern inside those words is the parents' to write — our guides to a 50/50 schedule, to alternating weeks and to the parenting plan template set out the common ones.

Sources: [1], [2], [3], [8], [9], [10], [11]

The Polish words you will see

• władza rodzicielska — parental authority. It belongs to both parents, and the child's important matters are decided jointly. This, not residence, is what Polish divorce statistics classify.
• kontakty — contact. A right and a duty of both the parents and the child, independent of parental authority.
• opieka naprzemienna — “alternating care”. The everyday term, and the one benefits statutes use, qualified there as care exercised in comparable and recurring periods.
• piecza naprzemienna — the term used in legal literature, and the only alternating-care term in a statute in force: the Personal Income Tax Act. Not in the KRO or the KPC.
• piecza współdzielona — “co-shared care”, the term in both pending bills, and not law. The government draft would use it to replace piecza naprzemienna across the Code of Civil Procedure and the tax and benefit acts.
• alimenty — child maintenance, measured by the child's justified needs against the paying parent's earning and financial capacity, and dischargeable in part by personal care.

“Custody” is not a single Polish concept: the law keeps parental authority, care and contact apart.

Sources: [1], [3], [4], [6], [8], [9], [10], [11]

Recent changes and what is pending

• 25 September 2026 Draft — before the Standing Committee of the Council of Ministers

  Government draft UD349 still at committee stage

  The draft that would define piecza współdzielona reached the Standing Committee of the Council of Ministers, with a new text filed on 21 September 2026. The Council of Ministers has adopted nothing.

  Official source: Government Legislation Centre, draft file 12407952

• 16 September 2026 Opinion filed on a pending bill

  Supreme Court advises against a default shared-care rule

  The Supreme Court's Bureau of Studies and Analyses opposed making shared care a default, while supporting a statutory definition with an express, open list of circumstances.

  Official source: Opinion BSA I.021.48.2026 of 15 September 2026

• 3 September 2026 Bill pending — referred to first reading

  Print 3034 sent to a first reading in the Sejm

  The private members' bill lodged on 31 July 2026 would have the child reside with each parent in recurring comparable periods unless the child's welfare requires otherwise. The reading had not been held by 27 September 2026.

  Official source: Sejm legislative process 3034

• 27 February 2026 In force — consolidation only

  New consolidated text of the Family and Guardianship Code

  A consolidated text of the KRO was announced on 20 February 2026 and promulgated as Dz. U. 2026 poz. 236 — a restatement, not a change to parental authority, contact or maintenance.

  Official source: Dz. U. 2026 poz. 236 (Sejm ELI)

• 1 January 2024 In force

  The 800+ child benefit rose to 800 PLN

  The child-raising benefit went from 500 to 800.00 PLN a month per child — the figure now halved between parents where a court ruling orders alternating care in comparable and recurring periods.

  Official source: Dz. U. 2023 poz. 1565 (Sejm ELI)

Frequently asked questions

Sources