FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Elodie Mulon, Emmanuelle Bonboire-Barthélémy and Louise Astruc Baciotti, Chauveau Mulon & Associés
• Contribution to the child’s maintenance and education. In the event of divorce or legal separation, the arrangements for exercising parental authority over a minor child, as well as the contribution to their maintenance and education, will be deter - mined within the divorce or separation proceed - ings. Parents can also approach the family court judge outside the divorce or separation process. In urgent cases, one parent can petition the fam - ily court judge to be authorised for expedited proceedings to obtain a quicker hearing date. The petitioner must demonstrate the urgency, such as a violation of their parental rights by the other parent, imminent school enrolment, or impending relocation. Parental Authority Exercise of parental authority By default, both parents share the exercise of parental authority over the minor child (Articles 372 and 373-2 of the Civil Code). However, if justified by the child’s best interest, the family court judge may decide that parental authority will be exclusively exercised by one parent (Arti - cle 373-2-1 of the Civil Code). Parental authority ceases when the child reach - es the age of majority – 18 years old in France (Article 371-1 of the Civil Code). Therefore, par - ents can only seise the judge or agree on the terms of its exercise for minor children. Child’s residence and visitation rights When determining the exercise of parental authority, the family court judge must ensure the safeguarding of the child’s interests (Article 373-2-11 of the Civil Code) and consider factors such as:
• past parental practices or prior agreements; • the feelings expressed by the minor child dur - ing hearings, if applicable; • each parent’s ability to fulfil duties and respect the rights of the other; • results of any relevant expert assessments, considering the child’s age; • information gathered from social investiga - tions; and • any physical or psychological pressures or violence exerted by one parent on the other. To help their decision, the family court judge may order a psychological evaluation of the family or a social investigation of the living conditions and accommodation of the child with each parent (Article 373-2-12 of the Civil Code). Both parties and the judge have flexibility in determining the child’s residence and visitation rights. Residence can be established: • alternating between the homes of each par - ent, on a weekly basis or according to other schedules; or • solely at one parent’s home, with the other parent having visitation rights, the extent of which depends on factors such as availability, geographic proximity and the children’s ages. If needed, and when the child’s best interests require it, visitation rights can be exercised in a supervised setting to ensure the child’s safety and allow the parent to be surrounded by pro - fessionals. The exercise of parental authority determined by the family court judge is in the absence of a bet - ter agreement between the parents. If desired, parents can modify the arrangements and, for example, mutually agree to expand visitation rights or implement shared residence without re-
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