Children and parenting across borders
When parents live in different countries, decisions about a child become harder to make and harder to enforce. Lithuanian courts apply both Lithuanian law and EU and international rules, and the child’s habitual residence usually decides which court is competent.
Discuss your situationWhat we can help with
- Deciding where a child lives and how the other parent keeps in contact
- Permission to move abroad with a child, or opposing such a move
- Return cases under the 1980 Hague Convention when a child has been taken or kept in Lithuania
- Contact arrangements that work across borders and can be enforced
Guides on this topic
Child custody in Lithuania for international families
How Lithuanian courts decide where a child lives and how the other parent stays involved, when one parent lives abroad or is not Lithuanian.
Read the guideSeeing your child in Lithuania when you live abroad
Your child lives in Lithuania and you live abroad. How to set up a contact schedule that works, what courts expect and what to do if contact is blocked.
Read the guideMy Lithuanian partner wants to move back to Lithuania with our child
Your Lithuanian partner wants to take your child to live in Lithuania. What they need from you, what you can do before they leave, and what if they go anyway.
Read the guideInternational child abduction to or from Lithuania
Your child was taken to or kept in another country without your agreement. What counts as abduction, how to get the child back and how quickly courts act.
Read the guideGetting your child back: how a return case works in Lithuania (Hague Convention)
Your child was taken to Lithuania and you want them back. What happens step by step: application, urgent measures, hearing, decision, appeal, enforcement.
Read the guideYour child's citizenship and passports after separation
Is your child Lithuanian? Who can apply for a child's Lithuanian passport, who keeps the passports after separation and what to do if documents become a weapon.
Read the guideMoving abroad with a child from Lithuania
Can you move abroad with your child if the other parent disagrees? What Lithuanian law requires, how the court decides and how to avoid an abduction claim.
Read the guideOther topics:Divorce in Lithuania · Property and maintenance · Court papers and documents
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