INFANTS' CUSTODY AND SETTLEMENTS ACT 1899 - SECT 5
Custody of minor
INFANTS' CUSTODY AND SETTLEMENTS ACT 1899 - SECT 5
Custody of minor
5 Custody of minor
(1) The Supreme Court may, upon the application of the mother of any minor,
make such order as it may think fit regarding the custody of the minor and the
right of access thereto of either parent, having regard to the welfare of the
minor, and to the conduct of the parents, and to the wishes as well of the
mother as of the father.
The fact that a parent contemplates leaving the State shall not of itself be
regarded as a reason for denying such parent the custody of the minor or
depriving such parent thereof if the court is satisfied that the welfare of
the minor will best be served by allowing such parent to have or retain such
custody.
(2) The power of the court under this section to make an order as to
the custody of a minor and the right of access thereto may be exercised
notwithstanding that the mother of the minor is then residing with the father
of the minor.
(3) Where the court under this section makes an order giving
the custody of the minor to the mother, then, whether or not the mother is
then residing with the father, the court may further order that the father
shall pay to the mother towards the maintenance of the minor such weekly or
other periodical sum as the court, having regard to the means of the father,
may think reasonable.
(4) No such order, whether for custody or maintenance,
shall be enforceable and no liability shall accrue while the mother resides
with the father, and any such order shall cease to have effect if for any
continuous period of three months after it is made the mother of the minor
resides with the father.
(6) The powers of the court under this section to
make orders regarding the custody of a minor, and the right of access thereto
of either parent, may be exercised upon the application of the father of a
minor in like manner as those powers may be exercised upon the application of
the mother of the minor.
(7) In any case in which a parent of a minor is
dead, the court may, on the application of any relative of that parent, make
such order as to access to the minor by such relative as to the court seems
fit.
(8) Any order made under this section may, on the application either of
the father or the mother or any guardian of the minor, be varied or discharged
by a subsequent order.