Can a father get custody of his children in Pakistan?

Key points

• The father is the natural guardian of his children; the Supreme Court said nobody disputed it (2018 SCMR 590, para 7).
• While the father is alive and not unfit, the court cannot appoint or declare anyone else guardian of the child's person (Guardians and Wards Act 1890, s.19(b)).
• Custody still follows the child's welfare (s.17). In the 2018 case the maternal grandmother's right of custody (hizanat) had ended because of the children's ages (para 7).
• What helped that father: he was ready and willing, could pay for the children's needs and schooling, had not gone back to his job abroad or remarried, and his mother lived with him to help (para 7).
• What lost another father his case: he could not show steady contact or support after the mother died, and the courts also weighed safety risks; welfare has to be shown by conduct (2026 YLR 1065, paras 8 to 10).

Can a father get custody of his child in Pakistan?

Yes. The father is treated as the natural guardian of his children. Section 19(b) of the Guardians and Wards Act 1890 says the court cannot appoint or declare a guardian of the person of a child whose father is living and is not, in the court's opinion, unfit to be guardian.

Guardianship and day-to-day custody are different things. The court decides who keeps the children by their welfare: their age, sex and religion, the character and capacity of the person asking, how close a relative they are, and their existing relationship with the children; an older child's own preference can count too (s.17). So a father's claim is strongest when he is fit, present and ready to care for them.

Jhelum, 2011: a mother dies, and the courts go back and forth

The parents married on 7 November 2001 and had four children, two daughters and two sons. The mother died on 26 September 2011. Three of the children were then living with their maternal grandmother (2018 SCMR 590, para 2).

The grandmother asked the Guardian Judge at Sohawa, District Jhelum, to appoint her guardian and to give her the fourth child as well; the father asked for the three children back. On 16 December 2013 the Guardian Judge sided with the grandmother. On 29 April 2014 the Additional District Judge, Jhelum reversed that and ordered the children handed to the father. The Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench then restored the Guardian Judge's orders on 19 May 2017 and gave the father only a visiting schedule (paras 2 and 3).

In the Supreme Court the father's lawyer said the grandmother was 67 and unwell and the children were being looked after by a step-aunt; the grandmother's lawyer said the children had lived with her since their mother died and were attached to her (paras 5 and 6).

What the Supreme Court decided

On 3 January 2018 a bench of Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Faisal Arab and Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan turned the father's petition into an appeal and allowed it. Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan wrote the order.

Given the children's ages, the grandmother's right of custody had ended. The father was ready and willing to look after them, had the money for their needs and education, had not gone back to his job abroad and had not remarried, and his own mother lived in the house to help. Nobody had even alleged that he was unfit (para 7).

The Court set aside the High Court's judgment, restored the District Court's decree and ordered the children handed to their father within one week (para 9). It kept the bond with their grandmother: weekends at her house, dropped every Saturday at 2:00 pm and picked up on Sunday at 4:00 pm (para 10).

When does a father lose a custody case?

When the court finds the children's welfare lies elsewhere, and a father's own conduct is weighed first. In Nadeem Ahmed v. Additional District Judge Islamabad (West), the mother died on 31 August 2019 and the maternal grandmother took the four children to Islamabad. The Family Court (25 June 2024) and the Additional District Judge (10 December 2024) refused the father custody but gave him visits (2026 YLR 1065, para 2).

On 4 August 2025 Justice Muhammad Asif of the Islamabad High Court dismissed his petition. The father does have a preferential right to custody under Muslim law, the court said, but it is not absolute and always yields to the children's welfare (para 8). He could not show steady contact or financial or emotional support after their mother's death, his attendance at visits was sporadic, and the courts also weighed strained relations with his in-laws and safety risks in moving the children to Sheikhupura (paras 8 and 9). He keeps his visiting schedule and may ask the court to change it (para 13).

What a father can do

Apply to the Guardian Court for custody under section 25 or guardianship under section 7 of the Guardians and Wards Act, and ask for interim custody or a visiting schedule while the case runs: section 12 lets the court make orders for the temporary custody of a child.

Then build the record the court will look at: use every visit the court allows, pay maintenance, keep receipts for school fees, and show a stable home with help at hand. Mediation is another road: in June 2025 the Supreme Court sent a father-and-grandmother custody dispute to a mediator, and both sides signed a co-parenting settlement on custody, visits and schooling (Khurrum Javed v. Ahmed Bilal, PLD 2026 SC 118).

The case at a glance

Facts

The mother of four died on 26 September 2011 and three of the children stayed with their maternal grandmother. The Guardian Judge at Sohawa sided with her (16 December 2013); the Additional District Judge, Jhelum gave the children to the father (29 April 2014); the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench restored the grandmother's orders and gave the father visits (19 May 2017).

The question

Should the children live with their father, their natural guardian, or stay with their maternal grandmother?

What the Court held

The father is the natural guardian, the grandmother's right of custody had ended with the children's ages, and the father was fit, willing and able. Custody to the father within one week, with weekends at the grandmother's house.

Why

Nothing suggested the father was unfit, unable or unwilling. He could provide for the children's needs and education, had stayed in Pakistan, had not remarried and had his mother at home to help, so their welfare lay with him (para 7).

Limits

The order turned on these facts and the children's ages. A father who cannot show steady contact and support can lose, as in 2026 YLR 1065. The Supreme Court kept the children's time with their grandmother.

In the Court’s words

“There is no denial of the fact that the father is the natural guardian of the children.”

2018 SCMR 590, para 7

“it would be unjust and unfair to deprive the children of the company, love and affection of their real father”

2018 SCMR 590, para 7

“this right is not absolute and is always subject to the welfare of the children”

2026 YLR 1065, para 8

The law it relies on

What this does not mean

• It does not mean a father gets custody automatically. Custody follows the child's welfare, and a mother usually keeps young children.
• It does not take children from a living mother because the father asks. In both cases here the mother had died, and the contest was between the father and the maternal grandmother.
• It does not cut the grandmother out. The Supreme Court ordered weekends with her (2018 SCMR 590, para 10).

Questions people ask

Sources

• Nasir Raza v. Additional District Judge, Jhelum, 2018 SCMR 590 (Supreme Court of Pakistan, 3 January 2018), paras 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10
  The father is the natural guardian; the maternal grandmother's right of custody had ended with the children's ages; custody to the fit, willing father within one week, weekends with the grandmother. verified against full text
• Nadeem Ahmed v. Additional District Judge Islamabad (West), 2026 YLR 1065 (Islamabad High Court, 4 August 2025), paras 2, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13
  The father's preferential right is not absolute; without steady contact or support, and with safety risks weighed, custody stayed with the maternal grandmother; visits kept. verified against full text
• Khurrum Javed v. Ahmed Bilal, PLD 2026 SC 118 (Supreme Court of Pakistan, 30 June 2025)
  A father-and-grandmother custody dispute referred to mediation; co-parenting settlement recorded. verified against full text
• Guardians and Wards Act, 1890, s.19(b) text checked in FAI Statute Search, 23 October 2026 Pakistan Code
• Guardians and Wards Act, 1890, ss.7, 12, 17, 25 text checked in FAI Statute Search, 23 October 2026 Pakistan Code

Every quote and section above is traced to the full judgment or statute text by an automatic check that runs on every update.

What the reel says