Court grants man physical custody of minors

The mother will have unlimited access to the minors when she is in Kenya. [iStockphoto]

A mother of two, who lives and works in the United States of America, will have to share custody of the minors with her ex-husband.

Justice Joel Ngugi ruled that the legal custody of the children –aged between 13 and 8- be shared between both parents but the minors will remain in Kenya with their father contrary to their mother’s wish to relocate them to the USA.

In a judgment delivered on April 5, via a video conference, Justice Ngugi ruled that both parents, who divorced while in the foreign country, have a right to participate and make input in the major decision concerning the children.

The decisions include but are not limited to educational, religious, and medical matters.

However, the judge directed that father shall have actual/physical custody of the minors.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the two minors- SCKK and JJWK- shall reside with their father in Kenya,” read the judgment in part.

The mother will have unlimited access to the minors when she is in Kenya, read Justice Ngugi’s judgment.

According to the judgment, the mother will access the children during school holidays, on Saturdays and when school is not in session.

And when the mother is out of the country, she shall have unimpeded access to the minors through telephone, video calls and email or through some other technology.

The court further directed the father and mother of the minors to agree on the maintenance of the children and in the event, they fail to agree on the same, they shall be at liberty to return to court.