Mother can keep custody after remarriage

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

A divorced mother in Bahrain does not lose custody of her children merely because she marries a man unrelated to them, lawyer Jassim Al Issa told The Daily Tribune.

He said the matter rests with the court, which must look first at the child’s welfare before deciding who should have care.

Mr Al Issa said Bahrain’s Family Law, issued under Law No. 19 of 2017, deals with the question directly and does not treat remarriage as an automatic bar in every case.

Under Article 127, in the Sunni school, a female custodian must ‘not be married to a man unrelated to the child, unless the court decides otherwise in the child’s interest’.

Mr Al Issa said this gives judges room to study the facts of each family. The question is not marriage alone, but what effect the new marriage has on the child’s life, home, care and schooling.

The rule under the Jaafari school is different in wording. The mother’s right to custody falls if she marries another man. Yet the court can still rule that the child should remain with the mother when that is found to be best for the child.

Mr Al Issa said the law therefore leaves the final call to the court, not to a fixed assumption about the mother’s new marriage.

The judge can also seek help from specialists. Article 130 allows the court to turn to people with skill in mental and social affairs when deciding custody.

Mr Al Issa said this shows that the child’s rights come before the quarrel between the parents, or any formal point raised by either side.

He said the common belief that a mother loses custody the moment she remarries is not an exact reading of Bahraini law.

A new marriage can bring the custody question before a judge. It does not, on its own, mean the children must be taken from their mother.

The court must weigh the facts: the child’s age, care, home life, schooling, mental state and the role of each parent. If the judge finds that staying with the mother gives the child care and calm, custody can remain with her.

Custody, Mr Al Issa said, is first a right of the child before it is a right claimed by either parent.