Family in Turkmenistan

Marriage requires the free and mutual consent of both spouses and is registered by ZAGS, the civil registration office. The normal minimum marriage age is 18; guardianship and trusteeship bodies may exceptionally reduce it by no more than one year. Existing registered marriage, direct-line kinship, sibling relationships and an adoption relationship are among the marriage prohibitions. Birth, marriage, divorce, adoption, paternity, name changes and deaths are recorded through ZAGS. Parents generally register a birth within one month, and 99.9% of children under five are reported as registered. A birth grant and a monthly child-care benefit up to age three support access to registration and early care; the reported 2024 birth-grant amount was 306 TMT, while a complete current 2026 tariff was not verified. Parents have equal rights and duties to raise and develop their children, provide general schooling and consider the child's best interests and views. Corporal punishment, humiliation, intimidation and cruel or degrading treatment are not permitted. A child retains the right to family life, parental care and contact with both parents and close relatives after separation or when a parent lives abroad. Parents can agree on a child's residence and contact arrangements; otherwise, a court decides according to the child's best interests, relationships, siblings and care and development conditions. Divorce through ZAGS is available by mutual agreement when there are no common minor children or dependent adult children and no dispute about property or maintenance; the administrative period is at least two months and can extend to three months. Courts handle divorces involving common children, disagreement, property or maintenance disputes, legal representation or refusal by ZAGS, and can address residence, support and property at the same time. Parents support minor children, dependent adult children unable to work and full-time students up to age 23; guideline monthly shares are one quarter of income for one child, one third for two children and one half for three or more children, with fixed amounts possible when income is irregular. Children also have a formal duty to support parents who cannot work, while wider duties may connect siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, foster parents, step-parents and children. Guardianship applies to children under seven and people declared legally incapable, while trusteeship generally applies from age seven to 18 and to people with limited legal capacity. Children without parental care should first be placed with a family through adoption, guardianship or trusteeship, with institutional placement considered later. Around 6,000 children were in residential care in 2023, including many children with disabilities; about 87% of those in residential care had disabilities. There were 26,522 children with disabilities at the end of 2023, and more than half of children aged three to 17 with disabilities were not attending an educational institution. Family-support and early-intervention services are policy priorities, but access depends on region and capacity. Family protection involves several bodies rather than one central child-protection authority, including guardianship and trusteeship bodies, the Commission for Minors, the medico-pedagogical commission, ministries and local häkims. Forty-five social-work specialists worked in 18 etraps in 2024, while community-based services covered only part of the country and a minority of vulnerable people with complex needs. Equality rules protect equal rights in marriage and family life and prohibit physical and psychological family violence, but the current Criminal Code does not show a separate offence called domestic violence. Protection therefore relies on general criminal provisions, family-law measures and possible restriction or removal of parental rights. There is no directly evidenced nationwide specialised domestic-violence shelter system. Available surveys report partner violence against 5.4% of women aged 18 to 59 during the previous year and physical punishment or psychological aggression affecting 69% of children aged one to 14. Care work is strongly associated with mothers: 89% identified the mother as the main person supporting education, compared with 41% identifying the father, and only 14.8% of children had fathers who helped with learning. Procedures are national, while implementation commonly involves etrap, velayat and local häkim structures. Fees for registration, courts, notarial acts, adoption and social services do not have one reliable consolidated 2026 table, so the responsible office should confirm the current amount before filing.