En 2002, en introduisant dans le Code civil la possibilité de résidence alternée des enfants suite à la séparation de leurs parents, les législateurs français ont institutionnalisé le principe de « coparentalité ». Dix ans après, la résidence des enfants chez leur mère continue pourtant de s’imposer massivement lors du règlement judiciaire des ruptures conjugales. À la lumière d’une enquête menée dans quatre tribunaux entre 2009 et 2010, l’article interroge les raisons de la progression limitée de la résidence alternée. Il explique pourquoi les pères et surtout les mères occupant des positions professionnelles stables, les affiliant souvent aux classes moyennes voire supérieures, ont nettement plus de chances de recourir à la résidence alternée que les hommes et les femmes des catégories populaires.In 2002, when French legislators introduced into the Civil Code the possibility for children of separated parents to live alternately with one parent and then the other, they institutionalized the principle of “coparenting”. Ten years later, having children live with their mother continues to be an infrequent practice when marital breakdown leads to a court-ordered settlement. On the basis of an investigation conducted in four courts between 2009 and 2010, this paper examines the reasons for this limited increase in children living alternately with one parent and then the other. It also explains why fathers, and especially mothers, having stable professional jobs – often making them part of the middle, if not upper-middle class – are far more likely to agree to alternating homes for their children than working-class men and women are
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