A child's education after divorce in Ukraine: who decides and whose consent is required

After divorce, the mother's and father's rights and duties in raising their child remain the same. That includes the child's education. When the parents cannot agree, disputes follow: whether the child can be moved to another school after a relocation, whether the child can study abroad, and whether the parent who lives apart from the child can see the child's grades.

Which parent decides where the child goes to school after divorce

Both parents have an equal right to decide where their child goes to school. The Family Code of Ukraine expressly provides that divorce and living apart from the child do not affect the scope of parental rights (Article 141 of the Family Code of Ukraine). The Law of Ukraine "On Education" (Закон України «Про освіту») applies the same rule to schooling: parents have equal rights in their child's education, including the right to choose the school, the curriculum, and the type and form of education (Article 55 of the Law of Ukraine "On Education").

The choice of school is therefore one of the child-rearing questions that parents decide jointly (Article 157(1) of the Family Code of Ukraine). The parent the child lives with cannot make that decision alone simply because the child lives with that parent.

Is the other parent's consent required to transfer a child to another school

Enrollment and transfers are governed by the Procedure for Enrollment, Expulsion and Transfer of Students to State and Municipal Institutions of Complete General Secondary Education, approved by Order of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine No. 367 of April 16, 2018 (the "Procedure"). Under paragraph 4 of Section I of the Procedure, "an application for enrollment of a child shall be submitted to the educational institution by one of the child's parents or by an adult who intends to obtain education." Transfers work the same way: under paragraph 1 of Section III of the Procedure, "the student or one of the student's parents (for students under the age of majority) shall check the availability of places at the chosen educational institution and submit an application for transfer to a vacant place." Within 5 business days, the principal of the receiving school reviews the application to transfer the child to another school and either accepts the student or gives a reasoned refusal, and within 5 business days the school the student currently attends approves the transfer and withdraws the student (paragraphs 1 and 2 of Section III of the Procedure). So one parent files the enrollment or transfer application, and the Procedure requires neither the other parent's signature nor any check by the school that the parents agreed on the move.

The Procedure does not say what a school should do if the other parent objects to the enrollment or transfer. The Office of the Education Ombudsman addressed this in its guidance "How an Educational Institution Should Act When the Child's Parents Are in Conflict," published on November 12, 2025: when a school receives an application from one parent, "a certain presumption of the other parent's consent to such actions applies." If the school receives conflicting applications from the parents, the Office of the Education Ombudsman recommends that it refrain from the actions requested until the guardianship authority or a court resolves the dispute. In such disputed situations, it also advises principals to contact the local children's services department without delay.

A parent who plans to transfer the child should therefore notify the other parent in writing before filing the application, because if the other parent learns of the transfer while it is being processed and files an objection with the school, the school may hold off on the transfer until the dispute is resolved. The parent who objects to the transfer, for their part, should file a written objection with both the school the child attends and the school the child is being transferred to, before the transfer is complete.

For example, after the divorce a son lives with his mother and is in seventh grade at a lyceum with an advanced English program. The mother moves to another part of the city and plans to transfer him to a gymnasium near her new home, where the trip to school would take ten minutes instead of an hour, but there is no advanced English program. The father objects, because at the gymnasium the son could not continue the program he has followed for three years, and returning to the lyceum later would depend on a place being available. If the mother files the transfer application without telling the father, the transfer can be completed within two weeks, and the father will learn about it only after the son has been withdrawn from the lyceum. If the father learns of the mother's plan in advance and files objections with both the lyceum and the gymnasium, the schools may hold off on the transfer, and the question of where the son will study will be decided by the guardianship authority or a court, taking into account, among other things, the program the son is following and how long his trip to school takes.

What to do if the parents cannot agree on the child's education

Parents can settle questions about their child's education themselves by agreeing on how each of them will take part in raising the child, and they can also sign an agreement on parenting arrangements. If they cannot reach agreement directly, they can bring in a mediator, an independent intermediary who helps the parties reach agreement but does not make the decision for them.

If no agreement is reached, the parent who lives apart from the child may apply to the guardianship authority, which determines how that parent will take part in raising the child after reviewing the parents' living conditions, their attitude toward the child and other relevant circumstances (Article 158 of the Family Code of Ukraine). If the parent the child lives with does not comply with the guardianship authority's decision or otherwise prevents the other parent from taking part in raising the child, the other parent may file an action to remove obstacles and determine how that parent will take part in raising the child (Article 159(1)–(2) of the Family Code of Ukraine).

Does the child's place of residence affect who makes education decisions

The child's place of residence does not, by itself, give the parent the child lives with the right to decide alone where the child goes to school. It does, however, determine which school must admit the child: municipal schools providing primary and basic secondary education must admit all children who live within the school's catchment area (Article 9(2) of the Law of Ukraine "On Complete General Secondary Education" (Закон України «Про повну загальну середню освіту»)). That is why a move to another neighborhood or city by the parent the child lives with is the most common trigger for a dispute over changing schools, as in the example above.

The place of residence of a child under ten is determined by agreement of the parents, and from age ten by joint agreement of the parents and the child. From age fourteen, if the parents live apart, the child decides where to live (Article 160 of the Family Code of Ukraine). A child who has turned fourteen therefore effectively influences which school they will attend by choosing which parent to live with.

In practice, the parent the child lives with makes day-to-day decisions about schooling, such as extracurricular activities or homework. Choosing or changing the school, the curriculum or the form of education, including moving the child to remote learning or homeschooling, is a joint decision, because both parents have equal rights in the child's education and decide questions of child-rearing together.

Studying abroad after divorce: is the other parent's consent required

Under Ukrainian law, the other parent's consent is required, because parents decide child-rearing questions jointly, and these include where and how the child will study; the rule makes no exception for studying abroad. In practice, however, it is almost impossible to enforce this requirement from Ukraine, and the reason lies in the rules on children leaving Ukraine under martial law.

As a general rule, a child under 16 leaves Ukraine with the consent of both parents (paragraph 3 of the Rules for Crossing the State Border by Citizens of Ukraine, approved by Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 57 of January 27, 1995). Under martial law, however, a child under 16 may leave the country with one parent without the other parent's notarized consent (paragraph 2-3 of the Rules). The requirement of both parents' consent still exists, but it is not checked at the border, so the child may end up abroad on the decision of only one parent. As a result, the parent who left with the child gains the practical ability to choose the country, the city, the school and the form of the child's education at their own discretion.

If the parents are still in contact, they can agree on all of these questions, including the choice of school, the child's parallel remote enrollment in a Ukrainian school, and how the parent who stayed in Ukraine will receive information about the child's schooling. If there is no agreement, the parent who stayed in Ukraine has no enforcement mechanism to influence the choice of a school abroad: a decision of a Ukrainian court or guardianship authority does not, by itself, take effect in another country, and there is no way to compel the other parent to comply with it from Ukraine. The question can be raised with the authorities of the country where the child lives, but such a dispute is decided under that country's law, and it is unlikely to succeed without help from a local lawyer.

On their own, the parent who stayed in Ukraine can only apply to enroll the child in remote classes at a Ukrainian school that runs distance-learning classes for children studying abroad (known as schools with a Ukrainian studies component, Section V of the Procedure) and receive information from that school about the child's results (Article 55 of the Law of Ukraine "On Education"). Even then, whether the child actually attends the remote lessons depends on the parent the child lives with.

Do both parents have the right to information from the school after divorce

Yes. Both parents have the right to receive information from the school about the child's education, and that right does not depend on which parent the child lives with. Under Article 55(2) of the Law of Ukraine "On Education," parents of students have the right "to receive information about the activities of the educational institution, the learning outcomes of their children (children whose legal representatives they are), and the results of assessing the quality of education at the educational institution and its educational activities." Because divorce and living apart do not affect the scope of parental rights, a school cannot refuse to give this information to a father or mother on the ground that the child does not live with that parent or that the other parent objects.

A parent loses this right only through a court decision terminating parental rights, because a person whose parental rights have been terminated loses their personal non-property rights with respect to the child and ceases to be the child's legal representative (Article 166(1) of the Family Code of Ukraine). If the school refuses to provide information, the parent who was refused files a written application with the principal, attaching a copy of the child's birth certificate, and the school must respond within fifteen days, or within one month if the matter requires further review (Article 20 of the Law of Ukraine "On Citizens' Appeals" (Закон України «Про звернення громадян»)).

How disputes between parents over a child's education are resolved

A dispute between parents over the child's education is resolved by the guardianship authority or a court in the manner described above, and in both cases the decision is based on the child's best interests; which parent filed with the school first does not matter. In court, the guardianship authority must take part: it submits a written opinion on how to resolve the dispute, prepared after inspecting the living conditions of the child and the parents, but the court may disagree with that opinion if it is insufficiently reasoned or contrary to the child's interests (Article 19(4)–(6) of the Family Code of Ukraine).

In disputes over changing schools, the court first establishes whether the transfer decision was made jointly or at least communicated to the other parent, so written notice of the intention to change schools, the parents' correspondence on the subject and an objection filed with the school are the first evidence the court examines. The court then assesses how the change of school affects the child's established environment: the curriculum the child has been following, the class, friends, extracurricular activities and the distance to school, and where necessary it obtains a psychologist's opinion on whether the transfer would harm the child. The court hears the child if the child is able to express a view, and the closer the child is to fourteen, the more weight a consistent wish to attend a particular school or to live with one parent carries. Separately, the court examines how actively each parent is involved in the child's education, such as attending parent-teacher meetings, talking with teachers and helping with homework, and letters from the school, correspondence with the homeroom teacher and other records of involvement in school life serve as evidence of this.

The court may treat a parent's repeated unilateral decisions on schooling against the other parent's wishes as grounds for changing the child's place of residence, so for the parent the child lives with, such a dispute may end in a court order placing the child's residence with the other parent.

If the dispute concerns access to information about the child's education, the parent must prove that it was the other parent's actions that prevented them from obtaining the information. An objection the other parent filed with the school is not, in itself, considered an obstacle. If it was the school itself that withheld the information, claims should be directed at the school.

Practical recommendations for parents

1. 01
   Put agreements on schooling in writing

   If a dispute is likely, the parents should sign an agreement on parenting arrangements that specifies who chooses the school and how a decision to change schools is made.

2. 02
   Notify the other parent about a change of school

   The parent planning a transfer notifies the other parent in writing before filing the application with the school, not after the transfer.

3. 03
   File an objection with both schools

   The parent who disagrees with the transfer files a written objection with the school the child attends and with the school the child is being transferred to, before the transfer is complete.

4. 04
   Keep correspondence and letters from the school

   In a dispute, the court treats correspondence with the other parent about the child's education and letters from the school about involvement in school life as evidence of which parent is actually engaged in the child's education.

5. 05
   Contact the principal in writing

   If the school refuses to provide information about the child, the parent who was refused files a written application with the principal, attaching a copy of the child's birth certificate, and in a dispute directs claims at the school, not at the other parent.

6. 06
   Agree on a school abroad before leaving

   Before leaving Ukraine with the child, the parents agree on the country, the school the child will attend, and how the parent who stays in Ukraine will receive information about the child's schooling.

Practical recommendations for schools

1. 01
   Give both parents the same information

   Both parents receive the same information about the child's education and the same invitations to parent-teacher meetings, regardless of which parent the child lives with, unless a court has terminated the parental rights of either of them.

2. 02
   Stay neutral in a family conflict

   The school does not make decisions about the child in favor of one parent simply because the child lives with that parent.

3. 03
   Hold off when parents file conflicting applications

   When the school receives conflicting applications from the parents, such as a transfer request and an objection to it, it acts on neither until the guardianship authority or a court resolves the dispute.

4. 04
   Contact children's services

   In a disputed situation, the principal notifies the local children's services department without delay, as the Office of the Education Ombudsman advises.

5. 05
   Respond in writing within the statutory deadlines

   The school responds to a parent's written application within fifteen days, or within one month if the matter requires further review (Article 20 of the Law of Ukraine "On Citizens' Appeals").