Cabinet to study gender-violence custody reform

The Cabinet is discussing a measure making it mandatory to take child custody away from any parent who is convicted of gender- violence offenses.

Leire Pajín, the health and equality minister, explained that the changes to the current law will prevent spouses from retaining custody of their children in cases where the other parent is murdered. "The way the law is written, an abuser can keep all the inheritance of the women he killed," Pajín said.

Under the law, convicted abusers cannot share custody of their children but can keep them if the wife is dead or if the judge decides to grant them custody. There have been just a few "painful" cases where this has happened, she said.

Inmaculada Montalbán, head of the anti-gender violence unit at the CGPJ judicial watchdog, said that mandatory revocation of child custody should not be automatic in every case.