Family · Guide
Children after a divorce: custody, guardianship and travel
Custody usually goes to the mother, while the father stays the legal guardian. That difference matters for school, papers and travel.
These pages describe the law in force in October 2026: the Family Code of 2004 and the Nationality Code. The reform of the Family Code announced in December 2024 has not been voted. They inform you. For your own case, see a lawyer, an adoul or a notary.
Key facts
- Custody (hadana) means caring for the child day to day. After a divorce it goes first to the mother, then to the father, then to the mother's mother. Failing that, the court chooses the most suitable relative.
- Custody lasts until 18 for boys and girls. From the age of 15, the child can choose to live with the father or the mother.
- Legal guardianship (wilaya) is separate. By law the father is the guardian of his children, also after a divorce. A mother with custody is not the guardian for that reason alone.
- The mother becomes guardian when the father is dead, absent or has lost capacity. When he is prevented from acting, she can deal with the children's urgent matters.
- A mother with custody who remarries keeps it if the child is under 7, if separation would harm the child, if the child has an illness or disability that makes her care necessary, or if her new husband is a close relative of the child or its legal representative. Otherwise she can lose it.
- The other parent has the right to visit the child and to receive the child. You can agree on the times; otherwise the court fixes precise times and places.
- If a parent cheats on the visiting arrangements, the court can change them and can even withdraw custody.
- Moving to another town inside Morocco does not end custody. The Code gives no such protection for a move abroad.
- The court can ban taking the child out of Morocco without the legal representative's consent. If consent is refused, the parent with custody can ask the urgent-applications judge, who agrees only for a temporary trip with an assured return.
- Passport: the official passport site states that a divorced mother can have passports made for her minor children, unless a court decision opposes it. The child must be present.
- Custody can be reviewed whenever the child's interest requires.
- If one parent dies, that parent's own parents keep the right to visit the child.
Steps
- Read the custody decision: it names the custodian, the visits and any travel ban.
- Agree on visits and holidays in writing, and have the agreement written into the court decision.
- Before travelling with the child, get the other parent's written consent, legalised. British official guidance says Morocco asks for the authorisation of both parents for a child to leave the country, until the age of 18.
- If consent is refused, apply to the urgent-applications judge and show that the trip is temporary.
- For the child's Moroccan passport, go with the child to your consulate. A parent who cannot come can give a power of attorney.
- If your child is taken to another country or kept there, contact the central authority of the country where you live at once.
What to bring
- A copy of the divorce decision: it names the children, the custodian and the visits
- The other parent's written consent for travel, legalised
- For the passport: the child in person, and the papers your consulate lists for minors
- For a custody, visiting or maintenance decision used between France and Morocco: the court clerk's certificate that it is enforceable
Watch out
- A person entitled to custody who stays silent for one year after learning that the custodian has married loses the right to claim it.
- Either parent can ask a Moroccan court for a travel ban on the child. A parent can be stopped at the airport when a ban exists.
- A dual-national child can leave Morocco on the Moroccan passport. A second passport does not protect against a child being taken to Morocco.
- A return order does not decide who gets custody.
- Proposals, not law: the reform would let a divorced mother keep custody when she remarries, give the mother with custody legal guardianship as well, and make guardianship joint.
Official sources
passeport.maadala.justice.gov.mahcch.net (1980)hcch.net (Morocco)hcch.net (1996)diplomatie.gouv.fr (FR-MA 1981)gov.uk (GB)
Checked: October 2026. Independent guide, not a government site. Rules change: confirm on the official page before you act.
If a child is taken to another country
- The 1980 Hague Convention
- Morocco has been a party since 2010. It applies only with the countries that accepted Morocco's accession: check the status table before relying on it. With the United Kingdom it has applied since 1 July 2016.
- Morocco's central authority
- The Ministry of Justice in Rabat, Directorate of Civil Affairs. It receives return requests and works with the authority of your country.
- France and Morocco
- The convention of 1981 applies. The two Ministries of Justice help for free: they locate the child, seek a voluntary return and bring the case to court. The judge must order the immediate return, unless it would seriously endanger the child.
- The 1996 Hague Convention
- It covers custody and protection decisions. It is in force between Morocco and France, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Italy. Canada is not a party.