Navigating custody disputes: A judge's advice

AN ACTING judge, in dealing with a tug-o-war between divorcing parents regarding the custody of their child, urged parents to respect each other when it came to decisions regarding their children.

- ZELDA VENTER [e-mail]

Acting Judge Ceri von Ludwig, sitting in the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg, remarked that it is a heavy burden on a court to have to decide what is best for a child when that child's own parents are unable to do so.

"It is a responsibility for which we must be grateful because the parents have turned to us and said, 'help us'. It is not always an abrogation of the parents' responsibilities by the parents. It is the parents saying: 'I know what I think is best, but it does not concur with what the other parent thinks is best".

Judge von Ludwig added that the court struggles when there are two good, loving parents and two good, loving support structures and they are unable to objectively determine what is best for a child.