Divorced fathers in Switzerland are now entitled to joint legal custody of their children. Previously, mothers were usually awarded sole custody.

The law, which took effect at the start of July 2014, also allows fathers to apply for custody retroactively if the divorce or separation had taken place within the past five years.

The change in the law means that both parents will have an equal say when it comes to making decisions about the children. However, it does not mean that both parents will share physical custody of their children. The Swiss Parliament had approved a government proposal in June last year, but implementation of the reform was delayed by several months amid concerns by the cantons over an expected flood of requests.

While these new laws represent considerable progress, married and unmarried parents are still teated diffferently and the interests of grandparents, foster parents and other stakeholders are still ignored.

In her speech at the ICSP conference, Swiss family lawyer Anne Reiser suggested that post separation negotiations should be not be conducted like a chess game, in which the outcome is a death or loss for one side.  The strategy game Go provides a more useful approach, in which players compete to get the biggest territory but also make sure that the other party can also live.