One of the most sensitive questions after separation is: who do the children stay with? The Saudi Personal Status Law issued by Royal Decree M/73 of 2022 and its 2025 Implementing Regulation answers this with codified rules that differ from much of the older, uncodified folklore still in circulation. This page presents the current texts — the definition of custody, the order of custodians, custodian conditions, and the cases of lapse — as part of the personal status materials on Hala Law. This is a general overview; the outcome in any file depends on the documents, the evidence, and the court's assessment.
What is custody under the law?
Article 124 defines custody as protecting a person who cannot manage independently from what harms them, raising them, and attending to their interests — including education and medical care. Custody is not merely which house the child lives in; it is a comprehensive care responsibility that revolves around the child's best interest.
Who gets custody after separation?
Article 127 sets a clear order after separation:
- The mother first.
- Then the father.
- Then the maternal grandmother.
- Then the paternal grandmother.
- Then the court decides whatever it finds serves the child's best interest.
More important than the order itself: the court may depart from it based on the child's best interest. The order is a statutory starting point; the child's interest is the governing standard, and it can move someone lower in the order ahead.
An important caution: the old circulating rules about a fixed age at which custody transfers automatically — such as what is commonly repeated about an age for boys and an age for girls — are not part of the current law. The current text rests on the order above and on the child's best interest, not on automatic transfer ages.
Custodian conditions
Article 125 sets general conditions for any custodian: full legal capacity, the ability to raise, protect, and care for the child, and freedom from serious contagious diseases. Article 126 adds conditions specific to the custodian's sex: for a female custodian, that she not be married to a man who is a stranger to the child, unless the child's best interest requires otherwise; and for a male custodian of a girl, that he be within the prohibited degrees of kinship to her and have with him a woman fit to provide care.
When can the right to custody lapse?
Article 128 lists cases in which the right to custody may lapse, including:
- A custodian losing one of the required conditions.
- Relocating to a place that defeats the child's interest.
- Remaining silent about claiming custody for more than a year without excuse.
All of this is qualified by a phrase that recurs throughout the law: unless the child's best interest requires otherwise. Lapse is not an automatic punitive device against a custodian; the court's standard in every case is the child's best interest, assessed on the evidence.
The mother's remarriage and leaving the marital home: no automatic lapse
Two points that cause frequent confusion:
- The mother's marriage to a man who is a stranger to the child is a factor the court weighs under Article 126 and the child's best interest — not a ground that ends custody automatically upon occurring. The 2025 Implementing Regulation adds an important detail for children under two years old.
- The mother leaving the marital home, because of a dispute or otherwise, does not by itself cause her custody to lapse under Article 133, unless the child's best interest requires otherwise.
When does custody end?
Under Article 135, a child who has completed fifteen may choose to live with either parent, unless the child's interest requires otherwise. Custody ends when the child completes eighteen, with exceptions relating to incapacity and illness.
Traveling abroad with the child
The law distinguishes custody from long travel outside the Kingdom. Under Article 129: a custodial parent may not travel with the child outside the Kingdom for more than 90 days per year except with the other parent's consent, or the guardian's consent where that parent is deceased. Where the custodian is not a parent, the limit is 30 days per year except with the consent of a parent or the guardian. Relocation with intent to reside elsewhere may also fall within Article 128 where it defeats the child's interest. In case of dispute, the court decides according to the child's interest and the statutory travel limits.
When do you need a licensed lawyer?
This page is general information about the statutory texts, not an assessment of any particular case. The matter becomes a private case calling for a licensed lawyer or accredited consultant when:
- There is an actual custody dispute or an application to end someone's custody, because the decision rests on proving facts — custodian conditions, harm, the child's interest — which are questions of assessment and evidence.
- The mother's remarriage or her leaving the marital home is being raised against her; these are factors the court weighs under the texts above and do not operate automatically.
- The dispute concerns relocation or travel with the child outside the Kingdom, where Article 129's limits intersect with the child's interest.
- Custody intertwines with other claims: maintenance, visitation, housing, or enforcement of earlier judgments.
In these situations, the court examines each file on its own facts and the child's best interest, and the outcome depends on the documents, the evidence, and the court's assessment — not on any single general rule.