A government panel on Tuesday released a draft outline of a law revision that would allow divorced parents to share custody of their children.
Based on the draft prepared by the family law subcommittee of the Legislative Council, which advises the justice minister, the government is expected to submit a bill to revise the Civil Code during next year’s ordinary session of parliament.
Under the current law, only one of the divorced parents is granted custody. The sole custody system has been criticized by some as disrupting parent-child interactions and leading to nonpayment of child support.
Meanwhile, others strongly oppose the introduction of a joint custody system in the country, claiming that it could let child abuse or domestic violence continue even after divorce.
The envisaged law revision will allow divorced parents to choose a joint or sole custody arrangement. If the parents cannot agree, the decision will be made by a family court.
If there is a possibility that a joint custody arrangement will lead to child abuse, domestic violence or other circumstances that harm children, a family court will have to choose one of the parents as the person with parental authority.
Under the possible joint custody system, the consent of both parents will be required to decide important matters, such as children’s advancement to higher education.
Meanwhile, one parent designated as guardian will be allowed to solely decide the child’s daily education and residence.
A new system will be created to allow a family court to order nonpayers of child support to disclose their income and assets.
If there is no agreement on meetings between children and parents living apart, a family court would be allowed to encourage such meetings on a trial basis.