Bern, 06.06.2025 - If children are involved in a separation or divorce, the responsible authorities must regulate their interests. In the report of June 6, 2025, the Federal Council comes to the conclusion that the responsibilities to regulate children's matters should be standardized and the procedure should be simplified. The report is based on knowledge from science and on a survey in practice. Precisely because the forms of family life have changed significantly, the Federal Council believes that the family procedure law is adjusted as necessary. The corresponding consultation is expected to open at the end of 2026.
The forms of living together and family constellations have changed significantly in recent decades. The number of children whose parents are not married has increased. In addition, many children do not live with both parents in everyday life. In order to take this social reality into account, material family law has been adjusted in recent years.
The Federal Council and the parliament (Postulates 19.3478 Schwander, 19,3503 Müller-Aldmatt, 22,3380 RK-N, 22,4540 Gysin and 23:3047 Feri) have already stated that adjustments in family procedural law also need to be checked, especially if children are involved. The science and representatives from practice also come to this conclusion. The findings from a survey in the cantons, the results of the discussion of a public event on the topic and an external report created on behalf of the administration show this.
Based on the knowledge gained, the Federal Council states in its report dated June 6, 2025 that he wants to improve family procedural law and will quickly take the necessary adjustments to the Code of Civil Procedure (ZPO) and the Civil Code (ZGB). In this way, he would like to simplify the judicial procedure to regulate the consequences of a separation or divorce. In particular, the special features of family law disputes with children should be better taken into account in the future. In a first step, judges should work as quickly as possible with the family members concerned. If this does not succeed, a fundamentally oral procedure should lead to a quick regulation of family relationships and thus to relieve the situation.
A separation or divorce is often stressful for all family members. However, the children should not suffer from the ongoing conflicts of parents, but should be able to live a solid relationship with both parents. The Federal Council therefore wants to regulate the involvement of different methods to solve a conflict in the family procedure and thus strengthen them. If family members find solutions together, they are mostly more sustainable and the relationships after a separation or divorce are less burdened. In addition, the Federal Council considers interdisciplinarity to be particularly important through the involvement of experts from various disciplines, such as psychologists or social workers.
As part of the revision of family procedural law, the responsibilities for assessing the children's matters should also be unified: According to applicable law, either the child and adult protection authority (KESB) or the civil court decides on questions that affect the child (allocation of parental care, regulation of care and personal traffic or the support shares, maintenance). The responsibility depends on the subject of the dispute and the civil status of the parents. If maintenance contributions are in dispute, the court is responsible. In all other matters, the court decides in the case of married parents, the KESB usually for unmarried parents. From today's perspective, these different responsibilities can no longer be justified. According to the Federal Council, this task should be given to the courts. In the course of the further work, however, he will examine this question deepened.
The cornerstones presented in the report form the basis for the further work with regard to an consultation template, which the Federal Council is expected to pass by until the end of 2026. In order to be able to take into account the concerns of the cantons and practice as part of this work, they are included in the preparatory work.