Increasing diversity in patterns of responsibility for the raising of children in families has presented serious challenges for welfare states. More complex family ties raise questions about the types of responsibility and obligation that should follow from different forms of private relationship, and the role the welfare state should play in governing family life. In this article, we compare how family policies in Finland, Norway and Sweden define parental responsibilities for supporting a child when its parents do not live together. We are particularly interested in whether the principle of Nordic family policy, shared parenting, operates when parents do not live together but raise their child together. [---]