Case Law
Index
25 European Court of Human Rights decisions relevant to parental rights and custody disputes. Each case is analyzed in plain language with practical guidance for parents.
X and Others v. Slovenia
ECHR ruled Slovenia violated Article 8 in a parental alienation case. The father was systematically denied contact with his children over several years, and the...
B.T. and B.K.Cs. v. Hungary
ECHR found Hungary violated Articles 8 and 14 through discriminatory state intervention in a family custody case....
F.D. and H.C. v. Portugal
ECHR found Portugal violated Articles 8 and 6 by denying procedural fairness in custody proceedings....
Pisică v. Republic of Moldova
ECHR found Moldova violated Article 8 by failing to take effective measures against parental alienation and to enforce the father's contact rights....
M. and M. v. Croatia
ECHR found Croatia violated Articles 8 and 6 by failing to provide procedural fairness in a custody dispute involving contact rights....
C v. Croatia
ECHR found Croatia violated Article 8 by failing to adequately represent the child's interests and to ensure procedural fairness in custody proceedings....
Iglesias Gil and A.U.I. v. Spain
ECHR found Spain violated Article 8 by failing to take adequate measures to secure the applicant mother's contact rights with her child after international abdu...
Neulinger and Shuruk v. Switzerland
Grand Chamber found Switzerland violated Article 8 by ordering the return of a child under the Hague Convention without adequately considering the child's best ...
Strand Lobben v. Norway
Grand Chamber found Norway violated Article 8 through disproportionate state intervention in authorizing adoption of a child without adequately considering the ...
Maumousseau and Washington v. France
ECHR found France violated Article 8 in a cross-border custody dispute by failing to properly balance the child's interests when enforcing a Hague Convention re...
Sommerfeld v. Germany
Grand Chamber found Germany violated Article 8 by denying a father contact rights without adequate procedural safeguards, including failure to obtain a psycholo...
Sahin v. Germany
Grand Chamber found Germany violated Article 8 by denying a father access to his child without obtaining an independent psychological expert opinion, relying so...
Hokkanen v. Finland
ECHR found Finland violated Article 8 by failing to enforce a father's contact and custody rights against grandparents who refused to return the child....
Elsholz v. Germany
ECHR found Germany violated Articles 8 and 6 by denying an unmarried father contact rights without adequate procedural safeguards and without commissioning a ps...
Görgülü v. Germany
ECHR found Germany violated Article 8 by denying a biological father contact with his child who had been placed with foster parents, without adequate considerat...
Diamante and Pelliccioni v. San Marino
ECHR found San Marino violated Article 8 by failing to take adequate measures against parental alienation and to protect the applicant's right to maintain conta...
Reigado Ramos v. Portugal
ECHR found Portugal violated Article 8 by failing to enforce a father's contact rights with his daughter over a prolonged period, allowing the mother to obstruc...
Zavřel v. Czech Republic
ECHR found the Czech Republic violated Article 8 by failing to take adequate and effective measures to enforce the applicant father's contact rights with his ch...
Koudelka v. Czech Republic
ECHR found the Czech Republic violated Article 8 by failing to take timely and effective measures to enforce the father's contact rights, with domestic proceedi...
Cincimino v. Italy
ECHR found Italy violated Article 8 by failing to take effective measures against parental alienation, allowing the mother to systematically undermine the fathe...
Tyrer v. United Kingdom
ECHR found the United Kingdom violated Article 3 (prohibition of degrading treatment) by subjecting a juvenile to judicial corporal punishment, establishing tha...
Pretty v. United Kingdom
ECHR found no violation of Article 8 in this case, but established important principles about the scope of Article 8 and the balance between individual autonomy...
Marckx v. Belgium
ECHR found Belgium violated Articles 8 and 14 through discriminatory family law that treated children born out of wedlock differently from those born within mar...
Johansen v. Norway
ECHR found Norway violated Article 8 by taking the applicant's child into care and restricting her parental rights in a manner that was disproportionate to the ...
Covezzi and Morsella v. Italy
ECHR found Italy violated Article 8 by failing to enforce contact orders, allowing one parent to systematically obstruct the other parent's contact rights over ...