Child custody trial & child support payments in the Czech Republic

This article has been rewritten in line with the new legislation introduced in 2026. The 2026 changes were significant, if you are comparing multiple sources on the issue, please make sure they are all up to date.

I often tell my clients that, for practical purposes, they won’t be 100% divorced until their children come of age. A mutually satisfiable child custody agreement that will stand the test of time can be a good basis for many years of successful co-parenting by ex-spouses or ex-partners. On the other hand, sub-optimal agreements or court judgements lead not only to practical problems, but often also to repeated reopenings of child custody proceedings. 

Parents always have the option to either ask the court to approve their agreement, or to adjudicate their disagreement.

Beginning 2026, divorce motion shall usually be heard within the same proceedings as child custody, thus saving time and cost to the soon-to-be ex-spouses.

Court jurisdiction

Before deciding the case, the court will determine whether it has jurisdiction. As a general rule, if the children have place of habitual residence in the Czech Republic (as a factual matter, not legal status), Czech courts will hear the case.

In complicated cases (for example parents often change residence due to work reasons, or connection to Czech Republic is not straightforward) establishing jurisdiction may be more complicated. There are several laws that may be applied under different circumstances:

• Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003, in cases concerning two EU member states.
• Hague Convention
• A bilateral treaty between the Czech Republic and the other relevant country
• Conflict of law rules in Czech Act No. 91/2012 Coll.

Governing law

Typically, if Czech court accepts jurisdiction based on the children’s factual residence in the Czech Republic, the case will be also governed by Czech law. However, there may be exceptions to that rule, which may significantly complicate proceedings.  

Filing lawsuit and proceedings overview

Custody proceedings are typically started by filing a motion for custody with an appropriate court. In extreme circumstances, such as severe neglect, the proceedings may be started also by petition of the social services.

According to the law, a custody case should be decided within six months. However, that is rare in cases where parents failed to reach an agreement. Especially when there are severe disagreements between parents, the proceedings can be lengthy, usually about twelve to eighteen months. In case that the judge comes to conclusion that an expert examination (psych eval) is needed, it may add another six to nine months, as experts that are willing to prepare statement for the court are few and in high demand. If expert is appointed, the judge usually requests examination of both parents as well as the children.

The court rules at the same time on custody as well as on child support. For that purpose, parents will be required to disclose all of their assets as well as to provide detailed information about their income in the past twelve months.

Joint custody

Beginning 2026, the default and only option for a court under normal circumstances is to entrust the child into joint custody of both parents. Only under extreme circumstances of neglect or abuse can the court limit parental responsibility to a child.

Joint custody without any hand-over rules is presented as the default option in the custody legislation. As a divorce attorney with many years of practice, I strictly advice my clients against such arrangement. It is always better to have clear rules to immediately fall back on in case of a future fall out (without having to return to court). At the same time, the agreed and judgement approved hand-over rules do not need to be observed for as long as the parents are capable of good-faith co-parenting.

Therefore I recommend having clear hand-over rules as a part of the joint custody decision (through court approved agreement or adjudication). As the saying goes, “good fences make good neighbors“. This has proven true in many of my clients’ custody cases.

Joint custody doesn’t automatically mean 50/50 custody, although there is a strong judicial preference for it. Typical schedule is on week/week basis. In case of smaller children the handover-schedule may be shorter than a full week, with the main rule being that the child is entitled to the same quality time with both parents (i.e. equal full weekends). The generally observed minimum, be it due to parent’s agreement or due to other objective circumstances such as a long distance between the parents’ houses, is child spending every other weekend with the lesser involved parent.

Custody judgements made before 2026 regarding care of one parent or alternating care remain in force, unless one of the parents decides to reopen the case and a new decision is rendered.

Criteria for court decision

If the parents fail to reach agreement on hand-over schedule, the court will adjudicate the matter. This typically leads to multiple court hearings spread over many months and a need to present detailed and well substantiated evidence.

The main consideration of the court lies with the child’s best interest. Court considers primarily the following constitutional issues:

• Existence of blood relation between the child and the person trying to achieve custody,
• level of preservation of child’s identity and their family ties,
• ability of the person trying to achieve custody to ensure the child’s development and physical, educational, emotional, material and other needs,
• child’s preferences.

The court should further consider the following issues stemming from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child:

• vulnerability of the child,
• the child’s right to health,
• the child’s right to education.

As a general rule, the court shall assume that both parents are equally capable of caring for their child. This means that the parent that wants to achieve a differet than equal outcome bears the onus of proving circumstances that prevent equal involvement of both parents. This can be straightforward in obvious cases, e.g. domestic violence, substance abuse or mental health issues, but it can become quite an uphill battle in most “normal” cases.

Child’s preferences

The court usually tries to find out child’s preferences either through social services or by a direct interview between the child and the judge (without parents’ presence). This is of particular importance when there is no agreement of the parents.

In case of children of 12 years of age and older, the child’s preference usually becomes key to the court’s final determination. For younger children, it is still an important factor, as far as it aligns with the other considerations mentioned above.

Other peculiarities

Judge’s role in child custody proceedings is wider than in standard civil court cases. The judge is usually more involved in the case.

Social services also conduct their own investigation. That usually includes interviewing the parents and may also include inspection of suitability of the parents’ apartments for the children’s upbringing. Due to wider discretion, judge’s individual personality traits will affect the way the proceedings will go in case of no agreement between the parents:

• Some judges automatically refer the parents to mediation and only start proceedings after the mediation failed.
• Some judges try to lead parents to amicable solution through a series of “test modes” of various custody arrangements (as far as parents consent to it).
• Some judges are quick to order psychiatric and psychological evaluation of parents and children (especially if children are very young).

Child support payments

In case of child support, the court may award it as far as three years back before the start of the proceedings. The court will typically use the point of termination of common household (i.e. sharing of family expenses) as a starting point for awarding retroactive child support.

When doing so, the court may also award late payment interest. It is therefore not only moral, but also practical to be paying sufficient amount of child support even before the court makes final decision. After the final decision, failure to pay child support may constitutes a crime. It is therefore important to pay in time, preferably in a way that provides sufficient evidence (bank statements, etc.).

The amount of child support will be determined based on mix of the following criteria:

• Particularities of custody arrangement.
• Lifestyle of each of the parent (in simpler cases, net average income over past 12 months is used as a benchmark).
• Parent’s other support obligations and child’s extra needs.

I.e. in case of two parents who both have only a single child for whom they take care 50/50, there will be either no child support or same child support. The math becomes significantly more complicated in cases of disparity of child care, property and income, number of support obligations, etc.

In general, the children have the right to the same standard of living as their parents. As a basic point of reference, the Ministry of Justice issued a recommended child support table (i.e. how much support should be paid to other parent in case of 100% custody). The below version is from August 2022 and shows how much of parent’s net income should go towards each child’s support, depending on the number of children. It is important to note that the table provides only general guidance, courts are not bound by it and generally do not refer to it directly.

The last line shows the recommended net minimum of net income that a parent should be left with. It is either “control amount” or percentage of net income, whichever is higher (in case of 1 child percentage doesn’t play role).

Control amount is counted in line with rules that concern court ordered debt enforcement from somebody’s wage. Examples of control amount: Parent with average monthly net income of CZK 38.981 should be left with no less than CZK 17.787. A parent on wage of CZK 14.418 net (and no other sources of income) should be left with no less than CZK 11.084. It is clear from looking at the table that the last line concerns mostly low earners.

In case of very high earning parent it is customary to pay part of the child support directly to the other parent and a part towards the child’s saving account. Saving account must be set up directly in the child’s name (not only for his benefit). Money becomes the child’s sole property and parents are legally limited in their ability to dispose with the child’s savings.

It should be understood that the above table is only a recommendation. For example if a child has special needs connected to its health, those shall be satisfied notwithstanding the recommendation table limits.  

Preliminary decision

2026 change of child custody legislation introduced a new institute of preliminary decision which replaces general preliminary injunction in child custody cases. The court shall make a preliminary decision “when it is in the child’s interest“. Previously, rules for preliminary injunction were stricter (required demonstration of urgency/exigent circumstances) but did not require hearing of the opposing parent nor of the concerned child. Meanwhile preliminary decision can be made only if all parties, including the child, were given opportunity to state their opinion.

Unless outright denied, the court will schedule a hearing regarding motion for preliminary decision. Court may also make a preliminary decision without a hearing if the parties’ viewpoints were already made known through their previous submissions or during previous court process.

The main problem with preliminary decision is that the statutory limit for the court to make one is 3 months. In case when a parent is refusing the other parent’s access to the child, this can be quite a long period damaging the relationship between the parent and the child (especially when children are small). Meanwhile preliminary injunction rules require that the court makes a decision within mere seven days. For that reason, as an attorney specializing in divorce and child custody, I consider exclusion of preliminary injunction in child custody matters to be unconstitutional; I expect that sooner or later this statutory provision will be struck down by the Constitutional Court.

In case that a higher earning parent refuses to pay child support, the court can issue a preliminary injunction on child support. The court must decide on injunction within seven days of filing, usually without public hearing and without requesting any additional information from either party. For injunction to be issued, there must be exigent circumstances and sufficient evidence.

If issued, injunction and/or preliminary decision is enforceable immediately.

Apart from practical enforcement, failure to comply with injunction or preliminary decision may lead to a fine of up to CZK 50.000 (which may be issued repeatedly) and in most severe cases also to criminal charges. Generally, injunctions are granted only for absolute minimum necessary, i.e. minimum support payments to be paid until final decision is rendered.

Final note

Do not make any decisions regarding divorce before making detailed preparations, including legal counseling. A clear path towards practicable and likely custody judgement should be decided before any steps are taken. Finding a mutually agreeable solution is always preferable, as it leads to a quick court decision rendered during a two-hour hearing, taking place couple of months after filing. When agreement is not possible, child custody proceedings can become lengthy, nerve-wrecking and expensive.  

If you are considering getting a divorce in the Czech Republic, don’t hesitate to contact me.