In divorce cases, when the husband and wife have disputes over the ownership of the custody of multiple children ( including twin children ), are they each supported by one of the husband and wife, or are they both supported by one of the husband and wife ? In this regard, in practice, the principle of the best interests of minor children is followed, and the discretion is based on the specific parenting conditions of both husband and wife and other facts of the case.
If all children are raised by one parent, the time of education and care available to each child will be reduced. At the same time, there may be difficulties in visiting, which is not conducive to the healthy growth of children.
However, since many children and multiple births grow up in the same environment, they are very dependent on each other and have close emotional ties. If they are not to be raised by their parents, they will undoubtedly cause certain emotional and spiritual damage. Therefore, in view of the comprehensive consideration of children 's physical and mental health, more and more cases of multiple children and multiple births have been awarded to one of the parents for upbringing in the courts when other conditions of one parent allow.
Case Study
Zheng and Xiao registered marriage in the Civil Affairs Bureau on February 6,2009, and gave birth to twin children ( one son and one daughter ) in September 2010. After that, Zheng filed a divorce lawsuit with the People 's Court of Yuexiu District, Guangzhou City, requesting judgment : 1.Divorce between the two parties ;2. the son born in marriage is raised by him, and the daughter born in marriage is raised by Xiao. Xiao replied that he agreed to divorce, but for the sake of the rights and interests of his children, he requested that the twin children be raised by him.
Xiao believes that children grow up together, psychologically and physically more dependent than other children, should not be regarded as property forcibly separated. In the trial, Xiao applied for expert witness Yuan to testify. Yuan has the qualifications of senior psychological consultant, marriage and family consultant and medical practitioner. He stated his expert opinions on the separation of twin children, which is not conducive to their healthy growth.
Zheng claimed that it was illegal for the witness to appear in court on the entrustment of the individual rather than by the relevant unit, and the witness 's opinion was only an academic opinion, so the relevant facts could not be determined accordingly. But the recognition that twin children live apart is not conducive to their growth.
Court decision
The People 's Court of Yuexiu District, Guangzhou City, after trial, decided :
1. Permit Zheng and Xiao to divorce ;2. the children of married twins are all carried and raised by Xiao.
Zheng appealed to the Guangzhou Intermediate People 's Court.
The Guangzhou Intermediate People 's Court held that the principle of the best interests of minor children should be adhered to in dealing with the issue of child custody.
In this case, on the basis of comprehensive consideration of the living environment of minor children and the raising conditions of both parents, taking into account the physiological, psychological and moral needs of twin children in their growth, it is considered that it is more legitimate and reasonable for twin children to be raised by Xiao.Finally, a final judgment to maintain the original judgment is made.
Attorney Insights
When determining the custody of minor children, the court should not only take into account various objective factors such as the age, gender, living and educational environment of minor children, but also consider the psychological needs and spiritual needs of children of different ages. The characteristics, as well as the child 's own willingness to belong to the custody, the emotional dependence on other brothers and sisters, and other aspects. In a sense, the more detailed and specific the consideration of the factors affecting the attribution of custody, the more it can reflect the level of refinement of the court 's handling of cases, and the more it can highlight the humane care of the law for the protection of civil rights. In conditional cases, good use of the expert witness system can play a very important role in helping lawyers to work.
In this case, the use of expert witnesses is very worthy of reference. First of all, in the selection of expert witnesses, considering that child development psychology is a professional discipline, expert witnesses should have both profound theoretical foundation and rich practical experience in the professional field, and enjoy good social reputation and other conditions. After strict screening, the team of marriage and family lawyers in South China finally chose Yuan, an expert in this field, to play this role. Yuan is not only a professional leader of a well-known local college, but also runs an influential psychological counseling agency. In addition, as a representative figure in this field, his theories and viewpoints are often seen in newspapers. His identity fully meets the qualification requirements for expert witnesses in this case.
Secondly, the way expert witnesses testify. Generally speaking, the testimony of witnesses can be either written or applied for witnesses to testify directly in court and be questioned by the trial personnel and the parties.
In this case, in order to make the testimony of witnesses play a better role, the team of lawyers for marriage and family affairs in South China adopted a combination of the two methods : both inviting experts to provide written opinions and arranging expert witnesses to make presentations in court, so that the judge in the case can more intuitively understand the psychological mechanism of the growth of twin children, so as to promote the judge to consider the attribution of custody from the scientific point of view of the child 's psychological development.
The agency practice of this case has proved that the use of expert witnesses can play a very important positive role in the judicial practice of individual cases, and even promote the refinement and scientific process of this type of case trial. In the process of agency of such cases in the future, we can also try to introduce expert witnesses from multiple perspectives. When both parents hold their own opinions, we can analyze the children 's needs from a professional point of view, and truly think about the attribution of custody from the interests of the children.