custody

Which translation, when

Why

The family sense is die elterliche Sorge, § 1626 Abs. 1 BGB, defined in the statute’s own brackets and split into Personensorge and Vermögenssorge, with the Aufenthaltsbestimmungsrecht, the right to determine residence, as the fought-over core. Joint custody is the default and survives divorce, sole custody takes the § 1671 BGB application. English custody and access then split into two German institutes, die Sorge and der Umgang, and § 1684 Abs. 1 BGB makes the second the child’s own right, each parent both entitled and obliged, so contact is not merely a parental concession to be traded. The detention sense lives elsewhere entirely, in custody is in Gewahrsam or, in criminal files, in Untersuchungshaft, §§ 112 ff. StPO, with police-law custody living in the Länder statutes. And the safekeeping sense is die Verwahrung, § 688 BGB, the custody of documents, valuables and, in the depot world, securities. Three drawers, and the machine reaches for the police one first, which is how children end up in Gewahrsam on the first page of a translated parenting plan.

Typical mistakes

• Gewahrsam der Kinder books the children into a police cell, the family institute is die elterliche Sorge, das Sorgerecht, § 1626 BGB.
• Custody and access are two German institutes, Sorge und Umgang, and der Umgang is the child’s own right, § 1684 Abs. 1 BGB, so collapsing both into Sorgerecht erases the half the child holds.
• Sole custody is not the divorce default, gemeinsame Sorge survives the split, die Alleinsorge needs the § 1671 BGB application, so English sole-custody assumptions arrive one procedural step too early.

What matters

Relocation disputes translate by institute: the mother seeks custody reads die Mutter beantragt die Übertragung der Alleinsorge, § 1671 BGB, or narrower, des Aufenthaltsbestimmungsrechts, while the father’s access is sein Umgang, § 1684 BGB, and the child holds that right too. Der Gewahrsam der Kinder would summon a police report nobody filed.

Examples