Facts
The case concerns a dispute between parents A. and B. over the scope of the father A.'s visitation rights with respect to their son C. After the parents' separation, the guardianship authority had granted A. regular visitation rights every first and third weekend, as well as four weeks of vacation rights per year. Upon the mother B.'s complaint, the District Office and later the High Court of the Canton of Aargau restricted the visitation rights to every third weekend and the vacation rights to two weeks per year. The father A. appealed against this restriction to the Federal Supreme Court.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court holds that the cantonal practice of generally restricting visitation rights in the event of conflicts between the parents is not compatible with the Federal Supreme Court's case law. While a moderate restriction may be justified if there is actually a loyalty conflict of the child, the specific circumstances must be clarified in the individual case, which has not been done in the present case. The High Court has relied too generally on the general assumption that loyalty conflicts of the child arise when a common household is dissolved. The Federal Supreme Court therefore remands the case to the lower instance for further clarification of the facts.
In its case law, the Federal Supreme Court has emphasized that the child's best interest is the paramount consideration and that a restriction of visitation rights is only justified if the child would otherwise be overburdened. Conflicts between the…