Střídavá péče

Under Czech law

When a court decides on a child's care under § 907 of the Civil Code (Act No. 89/2012 Sb.), it can entrust the child to one parent, to both in alternating care (střídavá péče), or to joint care. The Constitutional Court has repeatedly held that alternating care should be the starting point where both parents are capable and interested — but the sole criterion remains the best interests of the child (§ 906–§ 907), weighing stability, distance between households, school, and the child's own views, which gain weight with age.

Alternating care does not require the parents to agree with each other, and it does not automatically mean no maintenance is paid: with unequal incomes, courts still set child support.

A practical example

Parents divorcing in Brno both want the children. They live fifteen minutes apart, both can manage school runs, and the children are settled at one school. The court approves week-by-week alternating care with handovers on Sunday evening, and orders the higher-earning parent to pay a moderated maintenance amount.

When you need a lawyer

When the other parent opposes alternating care, when a move or a new partner changes circumstances, or when the proposed schedule ignores practical reality (distance, shifts, a child's special needs). Custody hearings are won on concrete, documented parenting capacity — a family lawyer knows what the particular court expects to see.