Child custody (hadanah) and visitation in Iraq

In briefThe mother has the better right to custody and upbringing of the child during the marriage and after separation, unless the child is harmed, under article 57. A custodian must be adult, sane, trustworthy and able to raise the child. The father oversees the child's affairs until age ten, the court may extend custody to fifteen in the child's interest, and from fifteen to eighteen the child chooses whom to live with if the court finds the choice mature.

In Iraqi law custody (hadanah) is a right of the child before it is a right of either parent, and the test that recurs throughout the text is the child's interest. The office of lawyer Ali Barakat in Baghdad sets out here what article 57 of Personal Status Law No. 188 of 1959 says about who has custody, until what age, when custody passes to someone else or ends, and where visitation fits.

Who has the better right to custody

Article 57 opens with the rule that the mother has the better right to custody and upbringing of the child during the marriage and after separation, unless the child would be harmed. The custodian must be adult, sane, trustworthy and able to raise and protect the child. A divorced mother does not lose custody by remarrying; in that case the court decides whether the mother or the father has the better right, in light of the child's interest.

Where the custodian and the person liable for the child's maintenance disagree about the custodian's allowance, the court sets it. No custodian's allowance is awarded while the marriage subsists or while the wife is in the waiting period of a revocable talaq. Nursing is governed by articles 55 and 56, and the cost of nursing falls on whoever is liable for the child's maintenance.

Age ten and age fifteen

Paragraph 4 of article 57 gives the father the right to oversee the child's affairs, upbringing and education until the child completes ten years. The court may extend the child's custody until fifteen if, after consulting the competent committees, medical and community, it finds that the child's interest requires it, provided the child sleeps only at the custodian's home.

Once the child completes fifteen, he or she may choose to live with either parent or with a relative until completing eighteen, if the court finds the child mature in making that choice, under paragraph 5.

Transfer and end of custody

Article 57 sets out the cases of transfer:

If the mother loses one of the conditions of custody or dies, custody passes to the father, unless the child's interest requires otherwise, in which case it passes to whomever the court chooses.
If neither parent is fit for custody, the court places the child with a trustworthy custodian, and may place the child in state childcare homes where they exist.
If the father loses one of the conditions of custody, the child stays with the mother as long as she keeps the conditions, and his relatives may not contest this until the child reaches majority.
If the father dies, the child stays with the mother even if she marries an Iraqi man who is not related to the child, on conditions: she keeps the other conditions of custody, the court is satisfied the child is not harmed, and the new husband undertakes at the time of the marriage to care for the child and not harm him. A breach of that undertaking is a ground for the wife to seek separation.

Paragraph 6 allows a custodian whose custody was ended by judgment to ask for the child back if it is proved that the child was harmed while with the other party. Loss of custody is therefore not necessarily final; what matters is the child's proven situation.

Visitation and contact

Visitation is tied to custody, and article 57 does not set a detailed schedule for it. A request by the non-custodial parent to see the child goes to the Personal Status Court, as the court that hears custody matters, and the test in the text remains the child's interest. Law No. 1 of 2025 also bound the drafters of the Jaafari code not to set the mother's custody at less than seven years, with regard to the child's interest and to an appropriate right of contact. That constraint concerns those covered by the choice in article 2, explained on the text in force and amendments page.

Custody, maintenance and guardianship

Custody is not guardianship over property. A mother may be the custodian while the father remains guardian of the child's property under the Minors Care Law, as explained on the guardianship deed and removal of a guardian page. A child's maintenance falls on the father under article 59, as explained on the maintenance claim page.

Legal basis and sources

Frequently asked questions

Does a mother lose custody if she remarries?

Not by remarriage alone, under paragraph 2 of article 57. The court decides who has the better right in light of the child's interest.

Until what age does custody stay with the mother?

The father oversees the child's affairs until ten. The court may extend custody to fifteen in the child's interest, and from fifteen to eighteen the child chooses if the court finds the choice mature.

Can a child be recovered after custody was ended by judgment?

Yes, if it is proved that the child was harmed with the other party, under paragraph 6.

Always check the text in force and its amendments in the official source.

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Custody and visitation: custody age and when custody ends