Right to personal contact

Who has a right to personal contact with a child?

There are three broad categories of persons who may have the right to personal contact with the child. They are parents, grandparents and certain third parties.

1. In principle, the parents exercise joint authority over the child. This means that they jointly exercise authority over their child's person and property. It does not matter whether the parents live together or not. If the parents do not live together but both have custody, a residence arrangement is drawn up. In this case, the right to personal contact depends on the residence arrangement. It is also possible that the parents do not live together and one of the parents does not have parental authority. In that case, the family court will determine when that parent can see their child (art. 374, § 1, fourth paragraph old Civil Code). The right to personal contact is then realised through a right of visitation.
    
2. The grandparents are also entitled to personal contact. These are the original grandparents. They must be the parents of one of the child's legal parents. It is therefore not sufficient that they are the parents of parent who has only a biological or social connection (art. 375bis, first paragraph old Civil Code).
    
3. Any other person may also have a right to personal contact. This person must then prove that he has a special affective bond with the child (art. 375bis, first paragraph old Civil Code). So it will often be brothers, sisters, foster parents, etc. This special affective bond does not have to be mutual.

When granting the right to contact, the child's best interests must always be taken into account.

The competent court

If the persons having custody and the persons having the right to personal contact cannot reach an agreement, the family court will rule on the exercise of this right (art. 375bis, second paragraph old Civil Code).