When a pair divorces, one father or mother could also be granted custody of the kids, however the different doesn’t lose their rights or tasks in the direction of them.
Rwanda’s regulation gives for a way custody is decided, in addition to the rights and tasks of each dad and mom, with the perfect pursuits of the kid on the centre of the choice.
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Greater than 4 in 10 divorces recorded in 2025 (41.2 per cent) concerned {couples} who had been married for lower than a decade, based on the Nationwide Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR).
The 2025 Civil Registration and Important Statistics report signifies that 4,479 divorces have been registered through the 12 months, of which 2,629 have been legally granted by courts.
With 1000’s of {couples} divorcing annually, questions on who will look after the kids and the way each dad and mom will stay concerned of their lives typically come up.
Here’s what the regulation says:
Custody can go to both father or mother
In an interview with The New Occasions, Harmless Muramira, founding father of Muramira & Co Advocates in Kigali, defined that divorce doesn’t finish parental accountability.
Beneath Article 18 of Rwanda’s Structure, each dad and mom have equal accountability for elevating their kids. They need to contribute to their upkeep, schooling, healthcare and normal welfare based on their means.
Muramira stated the court docket prioritises the perfect pursuits of the kid, together with their security, stability and schooling, in addition to every father or mother’s potential to offer correct care.
The court docket can award custody to both father or mother, order shared custody or entrust the kid to a 3rd celebration if each dad and mom are irresponsible and can’t assure correct care.
This will occur if each dad and mom use medicine or misuse alcohol, or if there’s gender-based violence, together with frequent fights that create an unsafe atmosphere for the kids.
In making its choice, the court docket additionally considers the kid’s age, maturity and needs.
Non-custodial dad and mom retain rights
The father or mother who doesn’t have custody nonetheless has rights and tasks in the direction of the kid.
“The non-custodial father or mother has the correct to go to, talk with and be visited by the kid. That father or mother additionally retains accountability for the kid’s upkeep and schooling, except contact is restricted to guard the kid,” Muramira stated.
He famous that orders regarding a baby’s welfare are momentary and may be challenged.
Relocation requires consent
A father or mother mustn’t relocate a baby in a manner that interferes with the opposite father or mother’s rights or a court docket order, Muramira stated.
Taking a baby outdoors Rwanda requires authorisation from the opposite father or mother by way of a notarised consent letter. If consent is refused, the father or mother in search of to journey with the kid might ask the court docket for authorisation, he added.
Each dad and mom should present help
Each dad and mom are required to contribute to the kid’s wants based on their monetary capability.
Such help might cowl meals, housing, schooling, healthcare, clothes and insurance coverage.
If one father or mother refuses to offer help, the opposite might search a upkeep order or enforcement of an current court docket judgment.
Courts can intervene in disputes
When dad and mom disagree over custody, visitation or different issues regarding their kids, they need to first think about communication or mediation, except there’s abuse or a right away danger to the kid.
In severe instances, the matter ought to be reported to the suitable authorities and brought to court docket for protecting measures or modification of custody and visitation preparations.
Muramira urges divorced dad and mom to maintain private conflicts away from their kids.
“Dad and mom ought to maintain private battle away from the kid. A toddler mustn’t ever be used as a weapon or defend. Divorce ought to finish the wedding, not the kid’s relationship with both father or mother,” he stated.
