In nearly all cases of divorce (96%) in 2013 involving joint minors, parental custody was awarded to both parents (63.425 proceedings) because neither of the parents had applied for sole custody under Section 1671 (1) of the German Civil Code.
In contrast, parental custody was transferred by the family courts in a total of 2,808 cases, and in nearly three quarters of these (2,065) it was transferred to the mother. This does not include matrimonial proceedings where an application for a judicial decision on custody had initially been filed and was then revoked before the decision was taken.