Who gets custody of newborn when not married?
Hej,
Me and my boyfriend are not married, but we live together. We have one 5-year old kid together and we both have custody (gemensam vårdnad) with him.
Now we are getting a second baby in September 2021. Who gets the custody (vårdnad) of the second baby ?
Tack för hjälpen!
Lawline svarar
Hej!
Thank you for your question and for turning to us at Lawline!
As I understand your question, you are wondering who gets the custody of a newborn. The conditions as you describe them are as such that you (the newborn's mother) are not married to the newborn's father, however, you and the father are partners (sambos) – meaning that you live together.
The short answer to your question is that you, as the mother, gets sole custody (ensam vårdnad) of the newborn. In the following, I walk you through the rules concerning your question, a couple different scenarios and what you can do if you want joint custody (gemensam vårdnad) of the newborn.
The rules regarding custody of children can be found in the Parental Code (föräldrabalken, hereinafter referred to as FB).
If you are not married, the mother gets sole custody of newborn
The main rule regarding who gets custody of a newborn is based on the parents being married to each other. In that case, the parents will automatically get joint custody of the child. Though, this only applies if the parents have different legal genders. (6 kap. 3 § FB)
However, the same paragraph then states that if the parents are not married, the mother (meaning the parent who gave birth) will get sole custody of the newborn. (6 kap. 3 § FB)
If you want joint custody of the newborn, you can simply report that to "socialnämnden" when the paternity or parenthood is being established. As parents, you can also report joint custody later, but then directly to the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket).
You can read more about custody and other related topics at Skatteverkets website here.
I hope you got the help you needed!
Best regards,
