Children in a divorce

If your family includes children under the age of 18 and your marriage comes to an end, you need to agree on the following things during the divorce process:

• where will your child live
• who will be the child’s guardian
• how will visitation rights be organised
• child maintenance support

When the parents have agreed on the child’s housing arrangements, guardianship, visitation rights and child maintenance support, the child welfare supervisor (lastenvalvoja) of your area can confirm the agreement. An agreement confirmed by the child welfare supervisor is as official as a court decision.

You can ask for more information from your local family services (perhepalvelut).

If you are unable to reach an agreement concerning living arrangements, guardianship, visitation rights and child maintenance support, you can seek help from family mediation (perheasioiden sovittelu). If you cannot reach an agreement despite mediation, you must ask your District Court to give a ruling on the matter. The court will take into consideration the child’s best interest and his or her own wishes. 

Ask more about family mediation from the social services of your area.

Always consider the child’s best interest while making decisions on his or her living arrangements.

Officially a child can only live at one address. During the divorce process, parents will agree which one of their homes will be the child’s official home.

In practice, however, the child can also live part-time at the other parent’s home.

Child benefit will be paid to the parent officially living with the child. The child’s official address also has an impact on Kela housing allowance, for example.

The guardianship of a child entails

• taking care of the child
• raising the child
• managing the child's affairs and making decisions concerning him or her.

The child’s guardian is also entitled to receive information regarding the child from officials.

When a marriage is dissolved, the parents of a child decide how guardianship will be arranged. Parents can agree to have joint custody of their child or that one of the parents will have sole custody. Guardianship is not automatically granted to the parent with whom the child lives.

Joint custody parenthood

When a child’s parents are jointly the guardians of the child, i.e. have joint custody, they decide on many things together. These include the child’s

• name
• place of residence
• upbringing
• language
• religion
• education
• health care
• using the child’s property

Also, a passport application, for example, must have both parents’ consent.

When parents have joint custody, they must be able to agree on things. The most important thing is that the parents take the child’s best interests into account when making decisions.

Single parenthood

A single parent makes all the decisions concerning the child themselves. Authorities, such as the day-care centre and school, only give information about the child to the guardian. The other parent can, however, make decisions regarding the care and upbringing of the child when the child is staying with him or her.

A child has the right to maintain contact with both of his or her parents after divorce. He or she also has the right to visit the parent with whom he or she does not live.

Visitation rights can entail, for example, that a child lives with one parent and visits the other parent every other weekend and on certain times during holidays. If the child is very young, he or she can meet their other parent during day visits only.

Visitation rights can also be so extensive that the child will spend an equal amount of time with each parent. Officially, however, a child can only have one address. Always consider your child’s best interest while making decisions concerning him or her.

When you separate, you can agree in advance how often your child will visit the parent living elsewhere. If you wish, you can also draw a written contract on visitation arrangements. You can also decide that you will agree on each visitation separately.

If you have issues with visitation, you can contact the child welfare supervisor. The child welfare supervisor will then arrange a meeting with the parents.

If you suspect that your child’s health or safety is being compromised when he or she is visiting the other parent, share your concerns with social service staff. If there are grounds for your worries, a court can give a ruling stating that social services must be present when your child meets his or her other parent.

Both parents are responsible for the maintenance of their children under the age of 18, even if they no longer live together. When parents separate, they have to reach an agreement concerning the maintenance of their children and possible child maintenance support (elatusapu). The parent who does not live with the child pays child maintenance support to the parent living with the child.

Read more about child maintenance support on the InfoFinland web page Single parent families.

When the parents get a divorce, the child’s last name remains the same. The last name can also be changed. Send an application for a change of name to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. If the child is over 12 years old, he/she must be asked for a written permission to change his/her last name. Even if the child is under 12 years old, it is a good idea to discuss the change of last name with the child beforehand.

A child abduction involves

• taking a child, who is residing in Finland and is under 16 years of age, abroad without the guardian’s consent
• not returning a child, who has been taken abroad, to Finland at the agreed time.

Child abduction is a crime in Finland. Contact your local police. Additional information is provided by the Finnish Association for Abducted Children (Kaapatut Lapset ry).