Chapter I: Parental authority over the person of the child

Parental authority or the exercise of parental authority may be totally withdrawn by an express decision of the criminal judgment from fathers and mothers who are convicted, either as perpetrators, co-perpetrators or accomplices of a crime or misdemeanour committed against the person of their child, or as co-perpetrators or accomplices of a crime or misdemeanour committed by their child, or as perpetrators, co-perpetrators or accomplices of a crime or misdemeanour…

Parental authority may be totally withdrawn, regardless of any criminal conviction, from fathers and mothers who, either through ill-treatment, habitual and excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages or use of narcotics, or notorious misconduct or criminal behaviour, in particular when the child witnesses physical or psychological pressure or violence exerted by one of the parents on the other, or by a lack of care or direction, clearly endanger the child’s safety,…

The exercise of parental authority and visiting and accommodation rights of a parent prosecuted or convicted, even if not definitively, for a crime committed against the other parent are suspended ipso jure until the judge’s decision and for a maximum period of six months, on condition that the public prosecutor refers the matter to the family affairs judge within eight days.

The total withdrawal of parental authority ordered under articles 378 and 378-1 carries by operation of law all attributes, both proprietary and personal, attached to parental authority; in the absence of any other determination, it extends to all minor children already born at the time of the judgment. It entails, for the child, exemption from the maintenance obligation, by derogation from articles 205 to 207, unless otherwise provided in the…

The judgment may, instead of total withdrawal, simply order a partial withdrawal of parental authority, limited to the attributes it specifies, or a withdrawal of the exercise of parental authority. It may also decide that the total or partial withdrawal of parental authority will have effect only in respect of some of the children already born.

In pronouncing the total or partial withdrawal of parental authority or of the exercise of parental authority or custody rights, the court hearing the case shall, if the other parent is deceased or has lost the exercise of parental authority, either appoint a third party to whom the child will be temporarily entrusted, with the latter being responsible for requesting the organisation of guardianship, or entrust the child to the…

On pronouncing the total withdrawal of parental authority, the court hearing the case may rule on the change of the child’s name, subject to the child’s personal consent if he or she is over thirteen years of age.

Fathers and mothers whose parental authority has been totally withdrawn or whose rights have been withdrawn for one of the reasons set out in articles 378 and 378-1 may, by petition, obtain from the court, on proof of new circumstances, the restoration to them, in whole or in part, of the rights of which they have been deprived. The application for restitution may only be made one year at the…