Family law governs the most personal matters in your life: children, marriage and cohabitation, child protection measures, guardianship and inheritance. Arslan Advocaten runs these cases in Dutch, English, Turkish and Polish — in international family files, more goes wrong in the language of the documents and the communication than in the law itself.
Everything to do with divorce itself — the procedure, spousal and child maintenance, parental authority, contact arrangements, the parenting plan, the division of the home and pension equalisation — is set out on our separate, detailed divorce page. This page covers the rest of family law.
Where do you stand? Choose your situation
| Your situation | Read on |
|---|---|
| You are divorcing, or maintenance, authority and the home are at issue | divorce |
| You want to recognise your child | “Recognising a child” below |
| Your child needs a different surname | changing a name |
| Child protection services are involved and a measure is looming | “Family supervision order” below |
| Your child has been placed, or may be placed, out of home | “Out-of-home placement” below |
| A parent or child can no longer manage their own affairs | “Administration, mentorship and guardianship” below |
| You have been disinherited, or receive less than your siblings | “The statutory share” below |
| An estate may contain debts and you do not know what to do | “Accepting or renouncing an estate” below |
| You are marrying or moving in together and want things recorded | prenuptial agreements |
| Your case has an international element | “International family law” below |
| Your child has been taken abroad without your consent | “International child abduction” below |
Recognising a child, and parental authority
Recognition (erkenning) is the act by which someone who is not automatically a parent becomes the child’s legal parent; since 1 January 2023 the person recognising the child also acquires joint parental authority as a rule. Without recognition there is legally no relationship at all between that person and the child.
Recognition is made before a registrar of births or by notarial deed and takes effect from the moment it is made (Article 1:203 DCC). Consent is the core of the scheme: recognition is void if made without the mother’s prior written consent where the child is under sixteen, or without the child’s own consent where the child is twelve or older (Article 1:204). If the mother refuses, the court can replace her consent at the request of the biological father or of a father in a close personal relationship with the child — unless that would harm the mother’s interest in an undisturbed relationship with the child or jeopardise the child’s development.
Recognition and parental authority are not the same thing. Being named on the birth certificate does not by itself mean you have a say in, for example, a move to another city — what decides that is authority. Whether authority came with recognition depends on the year of recognition and on the authority register. In such a file, that is the first thing to establish (recognising a child, parental authority).
The family supervision order (ondertoezichtstelling)
A family supervision order places a minor under the supervision of a certified institution because the child’s development is seriously threatened. The parents keep authority, but it is restricted.
Article 1:255(1) DCC requires three things at once: the child is growing up in such a way that its development is seriously threatened; the care needed to remove that threat is not accepted, or not sufficiently accepted, by the parents; and it is reasonable to expect that the parents will be able to take responsibility for the child’s care and upbringing again within a period acceptable given the child’s personality and development.
The measure lasts one year at most (Article 1:258) and can be extended by up to a year at a time if the grounds still exist (Article 1:260). The decision must state the specific threats to the child’s development (Article 1:255(4)) — one of the strongest points of any defence: an order written in general terms cannot be reviewed.
Out-of-home placement (uithuisplaatsing)
An out-of-home placement rests on an authorisation from the juvenile court, is carried out by the certified institution, lasts at most one year, and can be lifted or shortened in whole or in part by that same court (Articles 1:265b and 1:265c DCC). A rule forgotten in practice: an authorisation lapses if it has not been executed within three months.
Article 1:265d gives the parent with authority, a child of twelve or older and the carer in whose family the child lives three routes: you can ask the institution to end or shorten the placement because circumstances have changed — it must decide in writing within two weeks; you can apply directly to the juvenile court; and you can challenge the institution’s decision before that court. In these files time is everything: the longer a child stays elsewhere, the stronger the “existing situation” argument becomes.
Administration, mentorship and guardianship
Administration (bewind) concerns money and property, mentorship (mentorschap) concerns care and treatment, and guardianship (curatele) covers both. Guardianship is the heaviest measure because it makes the person legally incapable of acting.
| Administration | Mentorship | Guardianship | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Covers | the person’s assets | care, nursing, treatment, guidance | assets and person |
| Statutory basis | Article 1:431 | Article 1:450 | Article 1:378 |
| Legal capacity | remains intact | incapable in the listed matters | incapable, subject to exceptions |
Administration can be ordered over the assets of an adult who is temporarily or permanently unable to look after their financial interests because of their physical or mental condition — or, for a fixed period, because of squandering or problematic debts. The administrator represents the person, but not without limits: disposing of property under administration, borrowing money, giving a guarantee or entering into a settlement above a modest threshold requires the person’s consent or the court’s authorisation.
The statutory share: what if you have been disinherited?
If you are a child of the deceased, you can claim the statutory share even after being disinherited: a monetary claim equal to half of what you would have received on intestacy. But that claim lapses if you do not invoke it within five years of the death (Articles 4:63, 4:64 and 4:85 DCC).
Only descendants called to the estate by law are entitled to the statutory share; the spouse and other relatives are not. The calculation is made over the value of the estate’s assets, increased by the gifts to be taken into account and reduced by certain debts (Article 4:65) — so lifetime gifts do not fall outside the calculation.
Accepting or renouncing an estate
There are three options: unconditional acceptance, renunciation, and acceptance under benefit of inventory. The last is the safe middle road if you do not know whether there are debts: you are not liable for the estate’s debts out of your own assets.
The choice must be unconditional and without a time limit, cannot cover part of a share, and is irrevocable (Article 4:190 DCC); it is made by a declaration at the court registry (Article 4:191). The trap is in Article 4:192(1): an heir who behaves unequivocally as having accepted unconditionally — by entering into agreements that dispose of or encumber estate assets, or otherwise place them beyond creditors’ reach — has accepted unconditionally without ever signing a form. So be careful with anything resembling removing, selling or dividing property until the choice has been made.
Prenuptial agreements and cohabitation contracts
For those marrying after 1 January 2018 the default is the limited community of property: assets owned before the marriage, and inheritances and gifts, remain private as a rule, while what is built up together during the marriage is shared. Anyone who wants a different arrangement records it in a prenuptial agreement before a civil-law notary.
For cohabitants the law provides no such regime at all: living together creates no property rights by itself. The shared home, savings, pension and what happens if one partner dies are arranged only by a cohabitation contract and, where needed, a will (the limited marital property regime, divorce and debts).
How does a registered partnership end?
A registered partnership is very similar to marriage in its effects, but it ends more simply: partners with no shared children under their authority can end it without going to court (Articles 1:80c and 1:80d DCC). Both partners and one or more lawyers or notaries sign a declaration stating that the partnership has irretrievably broken down and that they wish to end it, and the registrar records it. The agreement also deals with maintenance, the home and contents, the division of assets and pension rights.
International family law
As soon as your situation has a foreign element, what people ask as one question splits into two: which court has jurisdiction, and which law will that court apply?
| Subject | Where the answer comes from |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction in divorce and parental responsibility within the EU | Regulation (EU) 2019/1111 |
| The law applicable to the divorce itself | private international law; Dutch law is often the starting point, but not automatically |
| Matrimonial property law | depends heavily on the year of the marriage and on nationality and residence at that time |
| Maintenance | separate European and treaty rules on jurisdiction, applicable law and cross-border collection |
| Recognition of a foreign judgment | separate rules per treaty or regulation; recognition is not automatic |
| Child abduction | the 1980 Hague Convention and the Dutch implementing act |
See also our article on international divorce.
International child abduction
If a child is taken abroad without consent, or is not returned, that is legally international child abduction. For the return of a child to the Netherlands, only the juvenile court of the District Court of The Hague has jurisdiction at first instance (Article 11 of the Implementation Act on International Child Abduction).
Return is possible only under a court order to that effect; the court hears the application as a priority and behind closed doors, and does not decide before the child has been given the opportunity to express its views (Article 13). The Act applies to children under sixteen; if a child reaches that age while the application is pending, the proceedings are discontinued of the court’s own motion. Speed is decisive here: every week that passes strengthens the counter-argument that the child has settled into its new environment.
What does a family lawyer cost?
If you cannot bear the costs, you may qualify for government-funded legal aid through the Legal Aid Board; you then pay a personal contribution, the level of which depends on your income and assets. We assess free of charge whether you qualify and apply for it on your behalf.
If you do not qualify, we work with a cost estimate discussed in advance and, where possible, fixed fees per stage. If you have legal expenses insurance, always check whether your policy covers family law and whether you may choose your own lawyer — that right of choice is wider than insurers often present it.
What a specialist adds in this field is above all pace and sequence: in family cases the most important decision is rarely the substantive one; it is which application you file, when, before which court, and with what evidence. Get that wrong and you do not lose your case on the merits — you lose time, and time is almost always the scarcest resource here.
Contact us directly
- Amsterdam — 020 747 00 55
- The Hague — 070 4500 300
- Rotterdam — 010 311 5500
- Utrecht — 030 747 0038
- Eindhoven — 040 711 3099
This page is published under the responsibility of the family law team at Arslan Advocaten. We handle family law cases from our offices in The Hague, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Tilburg and Eindhoven. Last updated: 13 September 2026. This page is general information and does not replace individual legal advice.