Father loses child custody battle in UAE Supreme Court

A father, who wanted custody of his two-year-old son from his maternal grandmother, has had his request rejected.

The Federal Supreme Court in Abu Dhabi upheld earlier rulings by lower courts that turned down the Arab father's custody application, and ruled that the boy remains with his grandmother.

The court said it was in the best interest of the child to stay with his maternal grandmother for proper care and better upbringing.

Official court documents stated that the mother of the child had died three weeks after she delivered the baby boy.

After the death of his wife, the father had agreed that the child stays with his maternal grandmother. The grandmother breastfed the boy and took good care of him.

When the child was almost a year, the father - who had married another woman - went to court and applied for custody of the child stressing that the boy had passed the nursery stage and that it was better if he stays with him now.

The father said in his application that he and his new wife would take good care of the child.

Both the first instance and appeal courts rejected the father's custody request.

The man challenged the rulings in UAE's top court, which maintained earlier verdicts by lower courts.

The Supreme Court judge said in his ruling that there was no justifiable reason as to why the father was taking away the child from his grandmother, given the fact that she has taken good care of him since the death of her daughter and that the boy was in good health.

Source: Khaleej Times