Regardless of the parents being married or divorced, the children and their parents still have rights and obligations to each other. In other words, the parents have the rights and obligations to their children, and vice versa. Particularly, these rights and obligations of parents are as follows[2]:
- Love the children, respect their opinions; take care of their study and education so that they can develop physically, intellectually and ethically, and become pious children of the family and useful citizens to society;
- Look after, nurture, care for and protect the legitimate rights and interests of minor children and those of adult children who have lost their civil act capacity, or cannot work and have no property to support themselves;
- Act as the guardian and representative of minor children or adult children who have lost civil act capacity under the Civil Code; and
- Do not discriminate against children on the basis of gender or their parent’s marital status; do not abuse the labour of minor children, adult children who have lost civil act capacity or have no working capacity; do not incite or force children to violate the law or act against social ethics.
When the marriage relationship ends or if there is a dispute between the parents as to who will acquire the custody of the children, the decision shall be based on the parent’s agreement or be determined by the Court. When the Court is in charge of determining, both parents still have the rights and obligations to look after, care for, raise and educate minor children and adult children who have lost civil act capacity, or are unable to work and have no property to support themselves.
However, the non-custodial parent also has other rights and obligations in addition to these mentioned above, as follows[4]:
- Respect the children’s right to live with the custodial parent;
- Provide child support; and
- Visit the children without being hindered by anyone.
Similar to the non-custodial parent, the custodial parent of minor children, or that of adult children who have lost their civil act capacity or unable to work and have no property to support themselves, also has other rights and obligations in addition to these mentioned above, as follows[6]:
- Request the non-custodial parent to provide child support under the Court’s decision;
- Request the non-custodial parent, as well as other family members, to respect his or her right over the child custody; and
- Do not hinder the non-custodial parent from visiting, caring for, nurturing, and educating the children.
In conclusion, both custodial and
non-custodial parents have their respective rights and obligations regarding
the custody and non-custody of the children in addition to general parents’
rights and obligations to their common children after divorce.
[2] Article 69 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014.
[4] Article 82 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014.
[6] Article 83 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014.
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