Visitation Rights under Family Law: Do Children Have a Right of Refusal?

Daleleer Kaur Randawar, Sheela Jayabalan, Faridah Hussain

2018

Abstract

Parenting role is a long continuous process wherein a strong initial bond between parents and their children is important for the nurturance and development of the child. Children development and achievement is usually related to positive parental involvement. However, when parents are divorced, this parenting role is divided. During divorce, the welfare and interest of a child is always considered as the important element in deciding the dispute of custody and visitation of the child. A mother is usually considered as the preferred custodial parent when the child is of a tender age. The court in deciding the dispute of child custody will look at several factors before granting the custody to a parent. Wishes of a child will be considered in deciding the issue of custody and visitation once the child attains/reaches a discernible age. When both parents are mentally sound, capable and interested in caring for the child, the courts recognize that it is important for the child to have a connection with each parent. However, sometimes a child show unwillingness and loathe against a parent and would rather not visit his or her other parent. This article will critically analyse the statutory provisions that govern custody and right of visitation of children in Malaysia generally and in particular to determine a right of child in refusing visitation orders against his or her other parent. The research methodologies applied in this article will be the analysis of primary and secondary materials. Article also includes a comparative methodology by analysing cases and the rights of children under the Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 (CRC). Several cases, statutory provisions and other legal and non-legal literature is studied to see to what extent a child’s right of refusal to visit his or her other parent is considered by court. This article proves that welfare of a child is always focused as the paramount consideration in deciding disputes relating to custody.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Randawar D., Jayabalan S. and Hussain F. (2018). Visitation Rights under Family Law: Do Children Have a Right of Refusal?.In Proceedings of the International Law Conference - Volume 1: i-NLAC, ISBN 978-989-758-482-4, pages 268-274. DOI: 10.5220/0010053302680274

in Bibtex Style

@conference{i-nlac18,
author={Daleleer Kaur Randawar and Sheela Jayabalan and Faridah Hussain},
title={Visitation Rights under Family Law: Do Children Have a Right of Refusal?},
booktitle={Proceedings of the International Law Conference - Volume 1: i-NLAC,},
year={2018},
pages={268-274},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0010053302680274},
isbn={978-989-758-482-4},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the International Law Conference - Volume 1: i-NLAC,
TI - Visitation Rights under Family Law: Do Children Have a Right of Refusal?
SN - 978-989-758-482-4
AU - Randawar D.
AU - Jayabalan S.
AU - Hussain F.
PY - 2018
SP - 268
EP - 274
DO - 10.5220/0010053302680274