The application of the law on child custody in Maldives : towards shared parental responsibilities

Abstract

Upon divorce, child custody and support is often the most salient issue that parents have to deal with. The aftermath of divorce weakens the harmony of family which leads to impulsive negative impacts on the children, such as financial support, child’s education and well-being. With so many issues that parents decide for litigation, custody of the minor is one of them and unfortunately it takes months to be concluded within the Family Courts. The purpose of this study is to analyse the practical dimensions of the law relating to the custody of the children in Maldives and evaluating the decisions of the Family Courts while interpreting the phenomenon of “best interest of the child” albeit applying existing laws. In addition, this paper seeks to discover the extent family judges in Maldives know of the concept and order joint custody arrangements. It is argued that the determination of children’s physical custody and maintenance arrangement is among the most difficult decisions made in any marital dissolution process. Besides doctrinal and non-doctrinal study, this research adopts comparative research and will enable the audience to understand several key concepts which are unravelled to hearken the reader towards several notable solutions. Data for this research are based on semi-structured interviews that have been conducted face to face, and through email in Malaysia and Maldives. The interview data was then analysed to identify salient patterns and themes. This research found that despite the evolution of custodial principles such as the introduction of a gender-neutral approach and shared parenting at the universal level, the current provisions of the legislations show that Maldives maintains the traditional approach in awarding custody i.e. imposing the responsibility of childcare to one parent i.e. sole custody and only granting the right of access to the other. On one hand, the judges in granting custody order strongly encourages the non-custodial parent to be equally involved in the upbringing of the children. On the other hand, there is no such law and practice of giving joint legal custody arrangements being for the child’s best interest. This study describes how the joint legal custody awards could benefit children by encouraging close relationship and continuing better contact with both the mother and father. It is the need of time that Maldivian Family Justice System reconstruct the ideas and practice of giving sole custody and balanced with the induction of joint legal custody concepts to achieve the ‘best interest of the child.