diff --git a/doc/terminatorrc.5 b/doc/terminatorrc.5
index 7b55d6d2..9beaf8de 100644
--- a/doc/terminatorrc.5
+++ b/doc/terminatorrc.5
@@ -82,6 +82,13 @@ Default value: \fB100\fR
 Sets what type of mouse events should determine terminal focus. Can be "sloppy" or "click". "mouse" is also interpreted as "sloppy".
 Default value: \fBsloppy\fR
 .TP 
+.B focus_on_close
+Sets which terminal should get the focus when another terminal is closed.
+Values can be "prev", "next" or "auto".
+Using "auto", if the closed terminal is within a splitted window, the focus will be on the sibling terminal
+rather than another tab.
+Default value: \fBauto\fR
+.TP 
 .B exit_action
 Possible values are "close" to close the terminal, and "restart" to restart the command.
 Default value: \fBclose\fR
diff --git a/terminator b/terminator
index 3d2b579e..9deb7c08 100755
--- a/terminator
+++ b/terminator
@@ -1302,7 +1302,7 @@ class Terminator:
        Returns True on success, False on failure"""
     parent = widget.get_parent ()
     sibling = None
-
+    focus_on_close = 'prev'
     if isinstance (parent, gtk.Window):
       # We are the only term
       if not self.on_delete_event (parent, gtk.gdk.Event (gtk.gdk.DELETE)):
@@ -1316,6 +1316,7 @@ class Terminator:
       # Discover sibling while all objects exist
       if widget == parent.get_child1 ():
         sibling = parent.get_child2 ()
+        focus_on_close = 'next'
       if widget == parent.get_child2 ():
         sibling = parent.get_child1 ()
 
@@ -1349,15 +1350,7 @@ class Terminator:
         sibling._titlebox.hide()
         
       self.term_list.remove (widget)
- 
-      if not isinstance (sibling, gtk.Paned):
-        for term in self.term_list:
-          if term == sibling:
-            term._vte.grab_focus ()
-            break
-      else:
-        if index == 0: index = 1
-        self.term_list[index - 1]._vte.grab_focus ()
+
     elif isinstance (parent, gtk.Notebook):
       parent.remove(widget)
       nbpages = parent.get_n_pages()
@@ -1380,9 +1373,15 @@ class Terminator:
         if isinstance(sibling, TerminatorTerm) and sibling.conf.titlebars and sibling.conf.extreme_tabs:
           sibling._titlebox.show()
         parent.destroy()
-    if index == 0: index = 1
-    self.term_list[index - 1]._vte.grab_focus ()
-    self._set_current_notebook_page_recursive(self.term_list[index - 1])
+    if self.conf.focus_on_close == 'prev' or ( self.conf.focus_on_close == 'auto' and focus_on_close == 'prev'):
+      if index == 0: index = 1
+      self.term_list[index - 1]._vte.grab_focus ()
+      self._set_current_notebook_page_recursive(self.term_list[index - 1])
+    elif self.conf.focus_on_close == 'next' or ( self.conf.focus_on_close == 'auto' and focus_on_close == 'next'):
+      if index == len(self.term_list): index = index - 1
+      self.term_list[index]._vte.grab_focus ()
+      self._set_current_notebook_page_recursive(self.term_list[index])
+      
     if len(self.term_list) == 1:
       self.term_list[0]._titlebox.hide()
 
diff --git a/terminatorlib/config.py b/terminatorlib/config.py
index 3bc5fe64..c5643d58 100755
--- a/terminatorlib/config.py
+++ b/terminatorlib/config.py
@@ -119,6 +119,7 @@ class TerminatorConfValuestore:
     'borderless'            : False,
     'maximise'              : False,
     'handle_size'           : -1,
+    'focus_on_close'        : 'auto',
   }
 
   def __getattr__ (self, keyname):