Joint custody in benefit of the children
A separation or divorce process is always hard, but more for the minors that suffer it. They are not guilty in the situation and neither are prepared to confront it, so this solution of shared custody is usually beneficial to reduce the trauma they may suffer.
Joint custody is reflected in article 92 of our Civil Code, which defines it as the shared exercise of guardianship and custody of the children when requested by the parents in the proposed regulatory agreement or reach an agreement in the course of the entire procedure.
What is necessary to grant joint custody to parents?
In first place, as noted above, it has to be requested by the spouses in agreement, or by one of them, as long as it only favors the interest of the child.
Is it enough with the request or is it necessary another requirement?
Obviously, there are a series of requirements that has to be accomplished, some of them comes indicated in the Civil Code, such as none of the parents should be involved in a criminal proceeding due to an attempt on life, physical integrity, freedom, moral integrity, etc… against the other spouse or the child who lives with both.
It must be remembered that the supreme purpose of all divorce or separation processes in which there are minors involved, is to ensure the interest of the minor, so the jurisprudence highlights other requirements that after all are also important for the proper development of the child, such as that there is no hostility between parents, the location of the addresses of each one, their job schedules, etc…
It should be noted that the judge will always have the last word, if the judge considers that after the evidence provided and after a report from the prosecutor’s office, the requirements for establishing joint custody are not met, he will not do so.
To the question that, if this measure is the most beneficial for the child, the majority of the doctrine and jurisprudence does not hesitate to affirm it categorically, since it is the most fair and the one that least harms the minor as long as it can be develop cordially.
We hope that all this information about joint custody has been useful, and if you have any questions do not hesitate to tell us about it.
