Determination of custody in accordance with Turkish Civil Code

Custody is the set of rights and obligations that entrusts the care, upbringing, supervision, protection, representation of and management of the property of minors, as a rule, and of adults under legal disability, as an exception, to the parents. From past to present, the family has been recognized as a very important institution in the society, therefore children have been given great importance. This situation brought along the necessity of making legal regulations regarding children and custody in every period. In the first part of our study, which consists of three parts, the concept of custody, the historical development of custody and the scope of custody rights are addressed. The personal existence, assets and representation of the child are explained under the heading of the scope of the custody right. In the second part, the characteristics of the right of custody are dealt with where the principles that theinterest of the child is of essence, the custody is whole, temporal, the custody is strictly personal and relates to public order are explained. Subsequently, the situations requiring determination of custody and the change of custody are stated in detail. The explanations on joint custody and the views on joint custody which have been discussed frequently in the recent period are included. In the last part of our study, the basic principles that should be taken into consideration in determining the custody in the event of emergence of a situation requiring custody to be entrusted to one of the parents or to owner of the custody to be changed later, are indicated. In this part, the basic principles are examined by separating the criteria for the child and the criteria for the parents, and finally, the importance of expert opinion is given place.