Divorce With a Child in Bangladesh: Custody, Maintenance and Visitation Explained

In this guide: Custody versus guardianship · How the court decides custody · Maintenance of the child · Visitation and travel · Settling it at the time of divorce · Family Court procedure and cost

The short answer

Under Muslim personal law as applied in Bangladesh, the mother has the first right to custody (hizanat) of a son until about age seven and a daughter until puberty, while the father remains the natural guardian of the child’s person and property. Courts apply the Guardians and Wards Act 1890 and decide every case on the welfare of the minor (s.17), so the age rules yield to the child’s best interest. The father must pay the child’s maintenance (food, clothing, housing, schooling, medical) regardless of who has custody, and a mother with custody can sue for it in the Family Court. The parent without custody gets visitation fixed by agreement or by the court. All three issues can be settled in a written agreement at the time of divorce or decided in one Family Court case.

Custody versus guardianship

Custody is day-to-day care: where the child sleeps, eats and goes to school. Guardianship is legal authority over the child’s person and property: consenting to a passport, signing for a school, managing an inheritance. In Muslim law the mother’s custody right (hizanat) and the father’s guardianship coexist. A mother who loses custody at the age limit does not lose contact; a father who is guardian cannot simply take the child away. Hindu and Christian families are governed by their personal law and the same 1890 Act, with the welfare test doing most of the work.

How the court decides custody

Section 17 of the Guardians and Wards Act requires the court to be guided by the welfare of the minor, considering age, sex, religion, the character and capacity of the proposed guardian, the nearness of kin, the deceased parent’s wishes if any, and the child’s own preference if old enough to form one. Bangladeshi courts have repeatedly kept children beyond the hizanat ages with the mother, and have refused custody to a father who remarried without providing a stable home. Facts that matter: who has actually been caring for the child, schooling continuity, the home environment, and any history of violence. A mother’s remarriage to a stranger to the child can affect hizanat but is not automatically fatal.

Maintenance of the child

The father’s duty to maintain his children is absolute until a son reaches majority and until a daughter marries, and continues for a child who cannot support themselves. The amount follows the father’s means and the child’s reasonable needs, including school fees and medical care; courts in Dhaka routinely fix monthly sums and order payment of arrears. A mother with custody files a maintenance suit in the Family Court, which can also decide custody and visitation in the same case. If the father defaults on a decree, the court can recover the amount as arrears of land revenue or by execution, and persistent default is a ground to refuse him custody.

Visitation and travel

The non-custodial parent is entitled to regular access. Agreements typically give alternate weekends, half of the Eid holidays and daily phone or video contact; the court can impose a schedule if the parents cannot agree, and can require handover at a neutral place. Taking the child abroad needs both parents’ consent for the passport and, in practice, the court’s leave if a custody case is pending. Removing a child from the custodial parent without consent can be answered with an application under section 25 of the 1890 Act for return of the ward, and in serious cases with a criminal complaint.

Settling it at the time of divorce

Before the talaq notice goes to the Chairman or Mayor under section 7 of the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, sign a written agreement covering custody, a monthly maintenance figure with an annual review, school and medical expenses, visitation schedule, and who holds the child’s passport and birth certificate. The agreement can be filed with the Family Court and converted into a consent decree, which is enforceable. Settle the mother’s dower and iddat maintenance in the same document. Our divorce process guide covers the 90-day registration steps.

Family Court procedure and cost

Custody, guardianship, maintenance, dower and restitution of conjugal rights all go to the Family Court (Assistant Judge) of the district where the child lives or the parties last resided together. The court fee is a small fixed sum under the Family Courts Act 2023, the first step is a compulsory pre-trial conciliation, and interim maintenance can be ordered at the first hearing. A contested custody case with evidence commonly takes a year or more; an agreed case can be decreed in weeks. Appeals lie to the District Judge within 30 days.