Avenue de l'Europe
Sporer v. Austria 
| 2011
Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life...
Extract from Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights
Mr Sporer had a son born out of marriage. When his relationship with the mother ended, he applied for custody of their child. However, under Austrian law, custody of a child born out of marriage was automatically given to the mother, with only a few exceptions. The mother was therefore given sole custody of the child.
The Strasbourg court noted that, if the couple’s child had been born within a marriage, then the Austrian courts could have granted custody to Mr Sporer if this had been in the child’s best interests. However, because the child had been born outside of marriage, Mr Sporer could only obtain custody in exceptional circumstances. He had therefore been discriminated against without sufficient justification, compared to a father of a child born within a marriage. This had breached his basic rights.
In 2013 the law was changed, so that courts can grant custody rights to the fathers of children born out of marriage, according to the child’s best interests.
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* Following its expulsion from the Council of Europe on 16 March 2022, the Russian Federation will cease to be a party to the European Convention on Human Rights on 16 September 2022.
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