New legislation
The rules governing child care, which have only undergone significant changes since January 2026, may be amended again. The Ministry of Justice is preparing its own amendment, which is intended to explicitly incorporate criteria regarding the best interests of the child—including the child’s safety and domestic violence—into the law. This is not the same proposal that was previously submitted by a group of 27 senators led by Hana Kordová Marvanová. Both amendments address similar concerns regarding the current legislation, but they differ in some of their proposed solutions. Czech Justice
The ministry wants to define in greater detail in the Civil Code the criteria by which a court assesses the best interests of the child. These criteria are to explicitly include the child’s safety and the presence of domestic violence. According to the Ministry, however, this does not mean that courts are currently unable to take violence into account; the goal is to formulate these rules more clearly. At the same time, it should be made clearer that the court is not required to grant custody to both parents in all circumstances. In necessary situations, the court could deny custody to one of the parents for a certain period of time. Another proposed change is the option to convene an interdisciplinary case conference, during which the court could consult on the child’s situation with, for example, psychologists and other experts, rather than relying solely on the gradual collection of expert opinions.
In addition to the ministerial amendment, however, there is already a separate Senate Bill No. 242, submitted by a group of senators led by Hana Kordová Marvanová. That bill also seeks to give greater weight in the law to the child’s safety, domestic violence, serious addictions, or a parent’s history of violent criminal activity. The Senate proposal, however, takes a different approach on certain points: for example, it explicitly provides for the possibility of entrusting a child to the care of only one parent in exceptional cases, without it being necessary to simultaneously interfere with the parental responsibility of the other parent. The Ministry, on the other hand, according to current information, does not wish to reinstate the previous system of categories—sole, alternating, and joint custody—and intends to retain the basic framework established by the 2026 divorce law amendment.
However, the expert debate is not limited to the form of the law. At a Senate roundtable, judges pointed out, for example, the shortage of expert witnesses in psychology and psychiatry, which complicates swift decision-making in complex cases. Children’s Ombudsman Martin Beneš, for his part, warned against further piecemeal interventions in the legislation without addressing the coordination between the courts, the Office for Social and Legal Protection of Children (OSPOD), and other parts of the child protection system. Neither of the two proposals currently constitutes effective law: the Senate amendment is being debated as a separate legislative proposal, while the ministry is preparing its own solution.
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