Studien syftar att undersöka hur barnets bästa beaktas i tingsrättsdomar, gällande vårdnad-och umgängestvister, utifrån avvägningen av barnets tillgång till båda föräldrarna och barnets rätt till skydd från en potentiellt farlig förälder. Detta när det förekommer eller har förekommit påståenden om våld mellan föräldrarna. För att besvara studiens syfte användes två frågeställningar. Den första handlar om vad tingsrätten bedömer som betydelsefullt i domarna i förhållande till barnets bästa. Resultatet visar att rätten till båda föräldrarna bedöms som betydelsefullt utifrån barnets bästa. Vidare bedöms föräldrarnas förmåga att samarbeta som betydelsefullt. Barnets vilja bedöms av tingsrätten som betydande endast i de fall där barnet är äldre. Den andra frågeställningen handlar om hur tingsrätten argumenterar för barnets rätt till båda sina föräldrar i förhållande till det våld som uppdagats. Resultatet visar att kärnfamiljsperspektivet dominerar och att gemensam vårdnad ses som barnets bästa. Våldet ses generellt som en icke-fråga och en diskussion eller argumentation kring våldet förekommer inte i förhållande till föräldrarollen. Slutsatsen är att det saknas en koppling mellan barnets bästa och förekomsten av våld mellan föräldrarna. Implicit anses barnets rätt till båda sina föräldrar mer betydelsefullt än barnets rätt till skydd från en potentiellt farlig förälder.

The CRC is an ethical foundation documents to strengthen children's position in the family law process and ensure that both the child's needs and rights are met. According to article 12 all children have the right to participate in processes and decisions that affect them, where their opinions should be given weight in accordance to their age and maturity. Even to meet the child's best interests (article 3) should be the main target at each crucial decision on issues affecting children. The definition of the child's best changes in time and place and leads to individual assessments needs to be made based on the needs of each child, by their individual interests and situation. In practice it may also be deemed to be a dilemma to consider both articles, tension may arise when the child ́s will and the best interests of the child do not correspond. Based on theories of child's status as an actor or non-actor in the assessment through the different perspectives: care logic and legal logic, we want to understand how assessors in different cases of access account to the articles that determine their decisions. Our study has been conducted through a qualitative research with textual analysis of five Swedish cases from District Court and Court of Appeal from the years 2015-2016. The outcome of the study shows that two logics (care logic and legal logic) generates in the assessments of the child ́s best and that their decisions is depending on which one of those thats dominate. The results also shows that the children ́s will depends on its age and maturity which also determine the children ́s influence and status as actors or non-actors in the legal process of access

The aim of this study was to increase understanding of the extent to which the child's will is given in Swedish courts' overall assessments of the best interests of the child in disputes on custody, resident and visitation (VBU). 18 District Court judgments have been collected from the database Zeteo via court judgments from Sweden's six Courts of Appeal. Based on a qualitative research effort, a content analysis was conducted on the judgments. The content analysis resulted in the following three categories being identified: The court judges according to the expressed will of the child, The court judges against the expressed will of the child, and The will of the child was omitted in the district court's assessment. The results were mainly analyzed based on childhood sociological perspectives, Hart’s ladder of participation and family law regulations. The theoretical framework was used to illustrate how the child was presented and socially constructed, and what impact this had on the space the child's will was given in the court's assessments of the best interests of the child. This was then reflected in the prevailing laws. The results of the study showed that the child's will appeared in about half of the cases, and that the court judged according to the will of the child in less than one third of them. The study also showed that the court tended to question the authenticity of the will of the children whose wishes did not comply with what the court considered to be the best interests of the child. In the majority of the cases where the children’s will were not given any room in the judgment, the court generally gave no reasons why the will was not reported.