'Child Needs More Time To Acclimatise': Delhi High Court Sets Aside Family Court Order Granting Father Overnight Custody Of Minor
The Delhi High Court has set aside a Family Court order granting a father overnight custody of his minor son, observing that the child needs more time to acclimatise before staying overnight with his father.
A Division Bench of Justices Tejas Karia and Madhu Jain modified the Family Court's interim custody arrangement after finding that its operative direction granting overnight custody was inconsistent with its own reasoning that the child had never stayed overnight with the father and required more time to adjust.
“...expecting the child to stay with the Respondent unsupervised may not be appropriate, and that the child may require further time to acclimatise before being expected to reside separately from the Appellant (mother),” the Court noted.
The appeal was filed by the child's mother challenging the Family Court's order, which had permitted the father to have overnight custody from June 20 to June 22, 2026.
The mother clarified that she had no grievance against the father's visitation rights but objected to the grant of overnight custody.
The father on the other hand argued that custody and visitation orders are interlocutory in nature. It was also submitted that an overnight stay would help the child become comfortable with him.
The High Court noted that the Family Court itself had observed that the child had never stayed overnight with the father and that expecting the child to stay with him unsupervised may not be appropriate
Accordingly, the High Court set aside the overnight custody direction and directed that the father would instead have custody of the child from 9 AM to 8 PM every day from June 20 to June 25, 2026.
Appearance: Mr. Rajat Aneja, Mr. Abhinav Chauhan, Mr. Saubhagya Chauriha & Ms. Kaanchi Ahuja, Advocates for Appellant; Mr. Prashant Mendiratta & Ms. Shreya Singhal, Advocates for Respondent
Case title: D v. G
Case no.: MAT.APP.(F.C.) 213/2026