The Court's Assessment of the Best Interest of the Child

The District Court's Task in Cases Involving Children

The district court's (tingsrätten) task is to determine which outcome is most compatible with the best interest of the child. What the court rules on depends on the claims the parents make. A case can involve "everything" — custody, residence, and visitation — or only a single question, such as where the child should live or whether the child should have visitation with a parent at all.

What Circumstances Does the Court Consider?

Based on the Swedish Parental Code (föräldrabalken) and legal precedent, there are usually several circumstances for the court to weigh.

Parental Suitability

One of the most important questions is whether there are concerns about either parent's ability to parent. This matters especially in custody and residence cases, where one parent carries significant day-to-day responsibility for the child. A parent may be considered less suitable if they:

• abuse drugs or alcohol to an extent that affects their parenting
• physically or psychologically abuse or exploit the child — or another family member
• influence the child to dislike the other parent
• otherwise sabotage the relationship between the child and the other parent (visitation sabotage)
• make cooperation impossible in other ways
• suffer from a serious mental illness that affects their parenting and care of the child.

Parents' Ability to Cooperate with Each Other

Another important factor is the parents' ability to cooperate on matters concerning the child. It is considered so important that it is specifically mentioned in the Parental Code, Chapter 6, Section 5.

In practice, this means cooperation under joint custody should work relatively smoothly. The parents don't have to agree on everything — but they must be able to handle their differences in a way that does not harm the child.

Risk of Abuse or Violence

If there is information suggesting the child is at risk of harm in contact with one of the parents, the court must pay particular attention to that risk. The same applies if someone else in the child's family is at risk. The district court then makes a risk assessment based on the circumstances of the individual case.

Need for Contact with Both Parents

Another key circumstance is the child's need for close, good contact with both parents. In practice, the court considers which parent is more likely to promote the child's contact with the other parent. A parent can therefore "disqualify themselves" in a future case by sabotaging the child's relationship with the other parent today.

The Child's Right to Be Heard

Children have a fundamental right to express their opinions and wishes about their own lives — stated in both the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Parental Code. The court must take the child's wishes into account, weighed against the child's age and maturity.

The law sets no particular age at which a child's wishes start to count. Even younger children have the right to be informed about what is happening in their lives and to say what they think; from around age twelve, the child's own opinion carries more weight. The right to an opinion also includes the right not to have one — which matters, because no child should feel pressured to choose between their parents.

The Principle of Continuity

The continuity principle exists to give the child stability by letting them stay in a familiar environment, protecting them from an unnecessary move to new surroundings and new routines. In practice, it can sometimes collide with the child's right to a close, good relationship with both parents — and then it becomes a case-by-case assessment. The principle should not be overstated: the adjustment a move demands can, in some cases, be outweighed by the better contact with both parents the move would bring.

Summary

The court's assessment of the best interest of the child is made by weighing the circumstances of the individual case. The court particularly looks at:

• The suitability of the parents
• The parents' ability to cooperate with each other
• The risk of a parent subjecting the child or someone close to the child to violence or abuse
• The child's need for close contact with both parents
• The child's right to be heard (the child's wishes)
• The continuity principle (the court should not needlessly upend the routines and everyday life of a child who is doing well)

Depending on the circumstances, one or more of these points may tip the court's assessment. And built into "the best interest of the child" is one more principle: nothing else is allowed to outweigh what is best for the child.