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This chapter examines high-conflict custody disputes in court and discusses whether Swedish legislation is suited to providing for children’s rights and the best interests of the child in these disputes. With a qualitative and quantitative study of 33 Swedish court cases, this socio-legal contribution identifies and analyses the most common conflicts arising in family disputes, and to what extent the legal system can effectively solve them. For the author, conflicts in custody disputes can be divided into, first, conflicts of interest; and second, conflicts of value. The legal system is designed to deal with the former—concerning issues of residence, finance, time, and information. However, it is not well-equipped to deal with the latter, which dominate custody disputes: lack of childcare capacity, cooperation difficulties, violence, threats and abuse, access sabotage, among other conflicts of value. For this reason, the author concludes that the legal system is dysfunctional and that the best interests of the child remain insufficiently accounted for in custody conflicts.

• Sveriges Radios genomgång av ett stort antal vårdnadstvister som hamnat i domstol visar att uppgifter om våld ofta inte utreds i grunden.

• En mamma undrar varför hennes tidigare partner, dömd för flera hot- och våldsbrott, kunde få rätt till umgänge med barnen trots att han bland annat dömts för misshandel av mamman.

• Hör Annika Rejmer, docent i rättssociologi vid Uppsala universitet, som har forskat kring vårdnadstvister i 30 år.

The article examines the implementation of articles 3 and 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in the parental code regulations on custody, residence and access and how they are applied in practice. The best interests of the child are, according to the regulations of the parental code, the superior principle in handling custody disputes, which includes an examination of the risk of abuse, the child’s need for close and good contact with both parents and the child’s will. The results of conducted empirical studies show that articles 3 and 12 of the CRC have not been implemented in the parental code. Children lack an independent right to express their opinion in the handling of custody disputes. The article is based on empirical data from sources of law, custody cases, and interviews with parents in dispute.