Child custody in Israel

Both parents are the child's natural guardians, with equal rights.

The same: both parents are natural guardians whether or not they are married.

The unmarried father, in one line: Both parents have it, married or not, once the father's paternity is established.

Guardianship stays shared after separation. The court decides who has custody, where the child lives and contact. A presumption, known as the tender years presumption, says a child under six should live with the mother unless there are strong reasons.

The court may hear the child, and often does through a social worker's report.

A move abroad with the child needs the other parent's consent or a court's permission.

Israel is a party to the 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention, which lets a parent ask for a child wrongly taken to another country to be returned. It works only with countries that have accepted its accession, so check the other country on the treaty status table.

• Religious courts have a role in divorce for Jews and Muslims, and in some cases the parents agree to take custody questions there.

Israel belongs to the Mixed: civil and common law family. Family law grows out of the legal tradition, so it helps to know how the system works.

Read the Israel legal-system profile in the Legal Families Atlas →
Who owns what in a marriage in Israel? →
Divorce rate and trend in Israel →

• Knesset: the Capacity and Guardianship Law, 1962