Germany: Justice Minister seeks to enact presumed joint custody for unmarried fathers

Story here. Excerpt:

'Fathers who are not married to the mothers of their children could soon automatically have equal rights over their children, with Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger preparing to change the law in their favour.

The idea is to introduce a presumption of joint custody over children, rather than the current presumption of a mother’s right to sole custody, according to a report in the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper.
...
“Children should have the right that their fathers taken on responsibility and make joint-decisions over important things in their lives,” Stephan Thomae, family rights expert from Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger’s Free Democratic Party.

He said unmarried parents would share custody unless the mother – or presumably, the father - convinces a court to grant her sole custody over the child.'