Ethiopia: adoption, child custody and inheritance

Adoption

In Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa an adoption is a court-approved agreement open to anyone aged 25 or more (Revised Family Code, Arts. 180-196), but Proclamation No. 1070/2018 deleted the foreign-adopter provisions (Art. 193 and Art. 194(3)(d) and (4)), inter-country adoption has stopped since February 2018, and a 2020 Cassation ruling exempts foreigners of Ethiopian origin.

Full detail: Adoption

Childcare

The Revised Family Code (Proclamation No. 213/2000) has three sets of rules for children of separated parents: Art. 113 (custody and maintenance fixed by the divorce court), Chapter Eleven on the obligation to supply maintenance (Arts. 197 to 214) and Chapter Twelve on minors (Arts. 215 onwards), which defines a minor as anyone under 18 (Art. 215) and requires every decision to serve the child's care and well-being (Art. 218). The federal Code applies in Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa; the regional states have their own family codes, and Muslims who both consent may use the Sharia courts for maintenance and guardianship of minors.

Custody is decided with the divorce. Where the marriage is dissolved, the court decides which spouse has custody and who takes care of education, health and maintenance, and it fixes the rights of parents and children to visit each other (Art. 113(1)). The factors are the income, age, health and condition of living of the spouses and the age and interests of the children (Art. 113(2)); the Code states no age presumption in the mother's favour and no preference between mother and father. The decision can be revised or reversed on application when circumstances change (Art. 113(3)). Spouses divorcing by mutual consent agree between themselves on the children's guardian and tutor, and the court decides if they do not (Art. 221). During the marriage the father and the mother are jointly the guardians and tutors of their minor children (Art. 219), they act in consultation and a court settles a disagreement in the child's best interest (Art. 266(2)). After separation the parent who does not exercise guardianship, an ascendant or an adult brother or sister may apply to the court against the guardian's decisions (Art. 267).

Maintenance is a separate duty. The debtor must supply the means to feed, lodge, clothe and care for the health and education of the creditor in a decent manner having regard to social conditions and local custom (Art. 197); the duty runs between ascendants and descendants and between siblings (Art. 198) but exists only where the claimant is in need and cannot earn a livelihood by work (Art. 201). The allowance is fixed by the claimant's needs and the debtor's means (Art. 202(2)) and either side may ask for a review at any time (Art. 203). Arrears cannot be assigned or attached (Art. 205), but arrears neither received nor claimed within three months of falling due cease to be due unless the creditor proves they were needed for subsistence (Art. 206). A debtor may offer to take the creditor into his house but can never be compelled to do so (Art. 207), and where several people owe maintenance the creditor may sue any one of them, who then has recourse against the others (Arts. 208 and 209). Any agreement waiving these rules has no effect (Art. 214). A guardian may not, without good cause, stop the minor seeing his ascendants (Art. 259(2)), and a minor over 14 receives the income from his or her own work (Art. 263(1)).

A child born outside marriage has a legal bond only with the mother unless paternity is established (Art. 107(2)), and where the father is unknown the mother alone exercises parental functions (Art. 220(2)). Paternity follows from the presumption that a child conceived or born in wedlock has the husband as father (Art. 126) or the man in an irregular union as father (Art. 130), from an acknowledgement made before a civil status officer or in a will or an attested document (Art. 133) and accepted by the mother (Art. 136), or from a judicial declaration. The court may declare paternity only in five cases: abduction or rape at the time of conception, seduction with abuse of authority or a promise of marriage, letters by the claimed father that unequivocally prove paternity, continuous cohabitation in the period of pregnancy, or participation in the child's maintenance, care and education as a father (Art. 143). An action to claim filiation needs the court's permission, granted only on concrete facts (Art. 158), and the child may bring it at any time in his life while parents or guardians may do so only during the child's minority (Art. 161). The Constitution adds that children born out of wedlock have the same rights as children born of wedlock (Art. 36).

On the forum, Arts. 34(5) and 78(5) of the Constitution allow religious and customary courts to settle personal and family disputes with the consent of the parties. Art. 4 of the Sharia Courts Proclamation (No. 188/1999) gives the Sharia courts jurisdiction over marriage, divorce, maintenance, guardianship of minors and family relations where the marriage was concluded under Islamic law or the parties agree to it, and the defendant must sign a consent form attached to the notice, according to a 2015 study that also counts Muslims as 33.9% of the population in the 2007 census. The World Bank's 2024 review found no evidence of specialised family courts or of legal aid for family disputes in Addis Ababa.

Key points

In practice

• Ask for custody, visits and maintenance in the divorce proceedings themselves, since Art. 113(1) makes the divorce court decide them, and bring proof of both spouses' income, health and housing, the factors listed in Art. 113(2).
• Claim maintenance as it falls due: arrears left unclaimed for three months stop being payable unless you prove they were needed for subsistence (Art. 206), and the amount can be revised later if needs or means change (Art. 203).
• If the parents were never married, establish paternity first: either a declaration before a civil status officer, in a will or in an attested document that the mother accepts (Arts. 133 and 136), or a court action for which permission rests on concrete facts such as letters from the father or cohabitation during the pregnancy (Arts. 143 and 158).
• Before choosing a Sharia court, check that both parties consent, because the courts hear family matters only if the marriage was concluded under Islamic law or both agree, and a written consent form accompanies the notice served on the defendant (Abdo, 2015).
• If the other parent exercises guardianship alone after separation, apply to the court against his or her decision on the child's upbringing (Art. 267).

Cost and coverage

The sources opened give no court fee for custody or maintenance claims and no scale of child-maintenance amounts; Art. 202(2) fixes the allowance case by case from the claimant's needs and the debtor's means.

Where to go

• The court dissolving the marriage (Art. 113), which applies the Revised Family Code in Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa and the regional family code in a region.
• Sharia courts, for Muslims who both consent (Constitution, Arts. 34(5) and 78(5); Proclamation No. 188/1999, Art. 4).
• A civil status officer, for an acknowledgement of paternity (Art. 133).

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Revised Family Code, Proclamation No. 213/2000, Federal Negarit Gazeta, Extraordinary Issue No. 1/2000, Addis Ababa, 4 July 2000 (English text, copy hosted by The Advocates for Human Rights) — Arts. 107, 113, 126, 130, 133, 136, 143, 158, 161, 197 to 214 and 215 to 221, 259, 263, 266 and 267
• Revised Family Code, Proclamation No. 213/2000 (English text, copy hosted by the University of Minnesota Human Rights Library, used to cross-check the article numbers) — cross-check of the article numbers
• Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (1995), English text on Constitute Project — Arts. 34(5), 36 and 78(5)
• Mohammed Abdo, "Legal Pluralism vs Human Rights Issues: Sharia Courts and Human Rights Concerns in the Light of the Federal Constitution of Ethiopia", Ghent University (paper, 2015) — jurisdiction of the Sharia courts under Art. 4 of Proclamation No. 188/1999, consent of the parties, 2007 census share of Muslims
• World Bank, Women, Business and the Law 2024 -- Ethiopia country data (main business city: Addis Ababa) — fast-track procedure for family disputes; no evidence of specialised family courts or legal aid

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Inheritance

Succession is governed by Title V of the Civil Code of 1960 (Arts. 826 ff.): children inherit first in equal shares whatever their sex or birth status (Arts. 836, 837 and 842), then parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, and the State in default of relatives (Art. 852); the surviving spouse is not among the heirs and relies on half of the common property and a maintenance annuity.

Full detail: Inheritance