Precious Chikwendu, a former beauty queen has been on the news recently, a little more than the usual. This time not for her beauty.
The internet has been inundated with the fall out of the relationship between the ex-beauty queen and the ex-minister. The chaos has been one that has been characterized with name calling, head turning revelations and vituperations.
The beauty queen who won the world title at the Miss United Nations Pageant in 2014 has been married to the Ex-Minister for more than six years, a marriage that has produced four children.
Rumors of the alleged differences between the couple first came to light in 2020 and since then, it has been a steep road to the inevitable. Since then, till now, the ex-beauty queen has accused Mr. Fani Kayode of assaulting her several during the course of their marriage including when she was pregnant with their triplets amongst many other scandalous allegations. Mr. Kayode has in turn accused her of infidelity amongst many other claims also.
Recently though, Mrs. Precious has been gathering attention on social media as she cries out against harassment and intimidation by her estranged husband and also denial of access to her children. It is the later that has drawn the attention of popular female celebrities who are now throwing their back behind the mother of four.
Foremost being Fashion mogul, Toyin Lawani and Nollywood star – Mercy Johnson.
LEGALLY SPEAKING
Sadly, because the matter is sub judice, it is one that we cannot comment on or give an opinion about.
However, generally speaking, with regards to custody for children in cases where the parents are alive but no longer together either by separation or divorce the position of the law is anchored on “the best interest of the children.”
Section 7(1) of the Matrimonial Causes Act states: “In the proceeding with respect to the custody, guardianship, welfare, advancement or education of children of the marriage, the court shall regard the interest of those children as paramount consideration and subject thereto, the court may make such order in respect to those matters as it thinks proper.”
In determining the interests of the children, the court will take into consideration the ages of the children; the arrangements made for their accommodation, education, welfare and general upbringing, as well as the conduct of the claimant.
Some of the factors the court usually takes into consideration include but are not limited to the following –
Age and Sex of the Child.
The Wishes of the Child.
Education and Religion.
Conduct of the Parties.
Adequacy of Arrangement for the Child.
Medical and Psychological Factors.
At the conclusion of hearing, there are various custody orders which the court may make depending on the circumstances of the case. At all times, however, the court shall have regards to the interests of the child as the paramount consideration. The custody orders the court may make include:
- Divided Custody
This is a situation where the child lives with each parent part of the year with reciprocal visitation privileges. At the time the child is in custody of one of the parents, he/she has complete control over the child. - Split Custody
In this case, the court grants custody to one parent and care and control to the other. The result is that the parent vested with custody has the power to control the major decisions of the child’s future while the other parent controls the day-to-day physical upbringing of the child.
The modern approach is to vest the custody in both parents (with powers to make major decisions) and grant care and control to one of them. The court may also grant care and control to one parent without making any order as to custody. - Joint Custody
Joint custody involves both parents sharing responsibility and authority with respect to the children. The effect of this is that both parents are involved in the physical sharing of the child as well as participating in decisions affecting the child’s life such as education, medical problems etc.
Before an order of joint custody is made, the court must ensure that the parents would co-operate with each other, otherwise, it will be an order in futility. - Temporary Custody
This is where custody of a child is awarded to a parent temporarily pending the outcome of a separation or divorce proceedings.
The application may be made ex-parte in cases of extreme urgency or on notice to the other party. In cases of extreme urgency, an oral application may be made subject to the leave of court, before the ex-parte application or application on notice is made. - Third Party Custody
Where the Court considers it desirable to do so, it may place the child under the custody of a third party- a person other than a party to the marriage, either permanently or as an interim measure, if it considers this to be in the child’s interest.
The Court will make this order:
• Where it is obvious that neither of the parties to the marriage is genuinely interested in the welfare and upbringing of the child.
• Where neither of the parties to the marriage has applied for the custody.
• Where in the opinion of the court, neither of the parties to the marriage is a fit and proper person to have the custody of the child.
If custody is granted to a third party, the court may include an order as to proper access to the child by the parents.
This is in no way an exhaustive exercise on the subject as no recourse has been made to the Child Rights Law, a very vital piece of legislation on the issue. This is also not an attempt to influence the court in anyway with regards whatever issues maybe before it.
