When parents separate and one of them lives — or wants to live — in another country, the legal questions multiply. Who decides where the child lives? Can one parent take the child abroad for a holiday, or for good? What if a child is taken out of the country without consent? Bulgarian law gives clear answers to most of these questions, but they are often not the answers parents expect.

The terminology: “parental rights”, not “custody”

Bulgarian law does not use the word custody. The Family Code speaks of parental rights and obligations, which both parents hold and exercise jointly while they live together. When they separate, four things have to be settled, either by agreement or by the court:

• the child’s place of residence;
• which parent exercises parental rights;
• the contact arrangements for the other parent;
• child maintenance.

For married parents this happens in the divorce; for unmarried or separated parents, through a separate application to the regional court for the child’s current address.

Agreement first

The law strongly favours agreement. Parents may conclude a written agreement on all four points and ask the court to approve it; once approved, it has the force of a court judgment. An agreement can also provide for joint exercise of parental rights and for detailed, tailor-made contact schedules — including long holiday periods abroad and regular video calls, which matter a great deal when one parent lives in another country.

This flexibility exists only by agreement. According to the binding case-law of the Supreme Court of Cassation, where parents cannot agree the court does not impose joint exercise of parental rights: it entrusts their exercise to one parent and fixes a contact regime for the other.

How the court decides

The sole criterion is the best interests of the child. In assessing it, the courts consider, among other things:

• each parent’s parenting capacity and the care actually provided so far;
• the child’s attachment to each parent and to siblings;
• the child’s age and specific needs;
• each parent’s willingness to support the child’s relationship with the other parent;
• housing and living conditions, and the support available from the wider family.

The court obtains a report from the Social Assistance Directorate, whose social workers visit both homes. A child who has reached the age of ten is heard by the court; a younger child may be heard depending on maturity. Psychological expert reports are common in contested cases. Neither parent has a legal presumption in his or her favour.

Because such cases take time, the court may order interim measures on residence, contact and maintenance for the duration of the proceedings.

Contact with the parent who lives elsewhere

The standard domestic contact regime — alternate weekends and part of the school holidays — makes little sense when a parent lives in another country. Courts are willing to order regimes adapted to distance: longer blocks during summer and winter holidays, contact whenever the parent is in Bulgaria on reasonable notice, and regular electronic communication. It is the task of the requesting parent’s lawyer to propose a concrete, workable schedule rather than leave it to the court’s default.

Travelling abroad with the child

This is where many parents are caught by surprise. Under the Family Code, matters relating to a child’s travel abroad and the issuing of the child’s identity documents are decided by both parents jointly — even when the court has entrusted the exercise of parental rights to only one of them. In practice this means:

• a passport or identity card for a child is issued with the consent of both parents;
• a child leaving Bulgaria with only one parent should travel with a notarised declaration of consent from the other.

If the other parent refuses or cannot be found, the parent who wishes to travel must apply to the regional court, whose decision replaces the missing consent. The Supreme Court of Cassation has held that such permission cannot be open-ended: the court authorises travel to specified countries and for a defined period, having satisfied itself that the trip is in the child’s interest and that the child will return.

Relocating abroad permanently

Moving a child’s home to another country is not “travel”. It changes the child’s place of residence and, inevitably, the other parent’s contact. It therefore requires either the other parent’s consent or a court decision changing the existing measures on the ground of changed circumstances.

In a relocation case the court examines the concrete plan: where and with whom the child will live, schooling and language, the relocating parent’s work and income, health care, and — crucially — how the relationship with the parent who stays behind will be preserved. A well-documented plan with a generous and realistic contact proposal stands a far better chance than a general wish to “start again” elsewhere. If relocation is permitted, the contact regime and often the maintenance are adjusted in the same decision.

If a child is taken or kept abroad without consent

Bulgaria is a party to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, and within the EU the Convention is reinforced by the Brussels IIb Regulation. If a child habitually resident in one contracting state is removed to, or retained in, another in breach of the other parent’s rights, that parent can request the child’s prompt return.

• Applications involving Bulgaria go through the central authority, the Ministry of Justice, and return proceedings are heard by the Sofia City Court under an expedited procedure.
• The court does not decide who is the better parent. It decides only whether the child should be returned to the country of habitual residence, whose courts will then rule on the substance.
• The exceptions — such as a grave risk of harm to the child, or the objection of a sufficiently mature child — are interpreted narrowly.
• Time matters: an application filed within one year of the removal is in a much stronger position.

Taking a child abroad unilaterally is therefore not a shortcut. It usually ends with a return order and weakens the removing parent’s position in the later proceedings on the merits.

Which country’s courts decide?

Under Brussels IIb, jurisdiction over parental responsibility belongs primarily to the courts of the member state where the child is habitually resident at the time the court is seised. A Bulgarian child who has lived for years in Spain will normally have these matters decided by a Spanish court, even if both parents are Bulgarian — unless the parents validly agree on the Bulgarian court and that serves the child’s interests. After a lawful move, the courts of the former residence keep jurisdiction for three months to modify an existing contact order.

Child maintenance

Both parents owe maintenance to their children under 18 regardless of whether they are able to work or own property. The amount depends on the child’s needs and the paying parent’s means, with a statutory minimum linked to the national minimum wage. Maintenance continues for an adult child in full-time education — up to the age of 20 for secondary and 25 for higher education — if the parent can afford it without particular hardship. Within the EU, maintenance decisions are enforced across borders under the Maintenance Regulation.

Changing existing arrangements

No decision about a child is permanent. If circumstances change materially — a parent moves, the child grows older and expresses a firm wish, a contact regime stops working — either parent may ask the court to modify the measures.

Key points

• Even a parent with sole exercise of parental rights needs the other parent’s consent, or a court decision, to take the child abroad.
• Permanent relocation requires consent or a court-approved change of residence.
• The courts of the child’s habitual residence, not of the parents’ nationality, usually decide.
• A detailed, child-focused agreement is almost always the best outcome — and the fastest.

Last reviewed: November 2026. This article provides general information about Bulgarian law and is not legal advice. Every case depends on its own facts and documents.

Need advice on a specific situation? Contact Rositsa Astakova, Attorney-at-Law in Sofia — consultations are available in English, Spanish and Bulgarian, in person or remotely.