Lawyers who practise family law in Kuwait hear one question again and again, usually from someone in their sixties or seventies: "Our son passed away, or our son divorced his wife, and since then we have not been allowed to see our grandchildren. Do we have any right to see them, or is it entirely up to whoever has custody?" This is not a dispute about money or property. It is about family ties, about the child's need for a wider family, and about how far a custodian can go in opening or closing the door. The same thing happens the other way round too. A maternal grandmother loses her daughter, the children end up living with their father, perhaps in a new household with a stepmother, and her contact with them slowly fades away.
This article deals with that specific issue: the position of grandparents in visitation (contact) rights under Kuwaiti law, both after a divorce and after the death of a parent. We do not repeat the general rules on custody, its conditions and the grounds on which it is forfeited, which we covered in Custody in Kuwaiti Law: Conditions, Duration and Grounds for Forfeiture. Nor do we repeat the general framework of visitation between the parents, which is set out in Custody and Visitation of the Child in Kuwait. This article looks at the grandfather and grandmother specifically. Do they have a right of their own? When should they ask for it? How is it arranged and enforced? And which questions does the law leave for the judge to decide?
We begin with a short answer. We then set out the legislative framework in the Personal Status Law and the Family Court Law, explain the substantive rules for divorce and for bereavement, and point out the issues on which Islamic jurists disagree. The second half is practical: the amicable route, the Family Counselling Office, filing a claim, enforcement at visitation centres, three hypothetical cases, and a set of frequently asked questions based on what grandparents actually ask us.
The Short Answer
Yes. As a rule, grandparents in Kuwait have a right to see their grandchildren, and that right does not end because the parents divorce or because one of them dies. The Personal Status Law does not restrict visitation to the father and mother. It extends the right to grandparents, on the basis that a child's relationship with their ancestors is part of the child's welfare and that custody cannot be used to sever family ties. The right matters even more when a parent dies. The grandparents on that side are then the only remaining link between the child and the deceased parent's family.
The right is not absolute, however, and grandparents cannot simply take the child. The overriding test is the child's best interests. Timing, place and length of visits are set so that they do not disrupt the child's schooling, routine and stability, and a judge may restrict or adjust visitation if it is shown to harm the child. The proper route starts with an amicable arrangement with the custodian. If that fails, the grandparents apply to the Family Court. The dispute first goes to the Family Counselling Office for an attempt at settlement. After that the court decides and fixes a time and place, and if the custodian refuses to comply, the judgment is enforced through the competent authorities and designated visitation centres.
Some detailed questions are not answered expressly by the text. Examples are whether grandparents may have the child stay overnight, whether a grandfather can have separate visits while the father is alive and exercising his own, and whether relatives other than grandparents have a right of contact. Jurists differ on these points, and they remain for the judge to decide on the facts of each family.
The Legislative Framework
Grandparent visitation is governed mainly by two statutes, with child-protection legislation alongside them:
- The Personal Status Law (Law No. 51 of 1984): This is the source of the substantive rules. It regulates custody, the order of persons entitled to it, its conditions and the grounds for its loss. It grants a visitation right to the non-custodial side, extends that right to grandparents, and empowers the judge to fix the time and place of visits where the parties disagree. Where the law has no provision on a point, it refers to the prevailing opinion of the Maliki school, which is why classical jurisprudence matters on the questions the text does not address.
- The Family Court Law (Law No. 12 of 2015): This is the source of the procedure. It created a specialised court for personal status matters in each governorate. For many family disputes, it requires the matter to go to the Family Counselling Office (the family dispute settlement office) before a claim is filed. It also provides for visitation judgments to be enforced in a way that respects the child's privacy and keeps the child away from the usual setting of forced execution.
- The Child Rights Law (Law No. 21 of 2015): This law sets out the principle of the child's best interests and the child's right to family care and to a relationship with their family. It is a useful guide when interpreting the visitation provisions. We discuss how it relates to custody in Custody and Children's Rights in Kuwaiti Law.
- The Law on Protection from Domestic Violence (Law No. 16 of 2020): This law becomes relevant in the exceptional cases where a family member poses a risk to the child. Protection orders may then affect visitation arrangements. See Domestic Violence and Legal Protection in Kuwait.
- The Civil and Commercial Procedure Law (Law No. 38 of 1980): This applies to procedure, appeals and enforcement wherever the Family Court Law contains no specific rule.
Families who follow the Ja'fari school are governed by that school in personal status matters, and some details of custody and visitation may differ for them. See Ja'fari Personal Status in Kuwait. This article deals with the general Personal Status Law.
The Substantive Rules
1. What visitation means and how it differs from custody
Custody (hadana) means keeping, caring for and raising the child in the custodian's home. It is a continuing, day-to-day responsibility. Visitation (ru'ya) is the right of someone who does not have custody to see the child and spend time with them at arranged times, so that family ties are kept and the child is not cut off from half of their family. Visitation does not move the child out of the custodian's care and does not give the visitor a say in daily upbringing. It sits alongside custody rather than competing with it. For this reason the custodian is under a duty to allow visitation to those entitled to it. It is not a favour the custodian may grant or withhold.
This distinction matters for grandparents in particular. Many custodians see a grandparent's request as interference in custody or as a first step towards taking the child, and they refuse in order to protect their own position. In fact a visitation request does not touch custody at all. It does not suggest that the custodian is unfit. It is a separate right that is exercised within the existing custody arrangement.
2. Which relatives are entitled to visitation
The Personal Status Law gives the right of visitation to the parents and extends it to grandparents. As generally understood, "grandparents" covers both the paternal and the maternal grandfather and grandmother, because the reason for the right is the same: the bond between an ancestor and a descendant. A grandparent does not have to be on the non-custodial side, although in practice disputes usually involve the grandparents of the parent who does not have custody.
The text does not expressly give an independent right of visitation to other relatives, such as uncles and aunts on either side or half-siblings living with the other parent. Opinions differ on this. Some jurists hold that the child's ties with these relatives are kept through the visits of the father, the mother or the grandparents, since the relatives meet the child on those occasions. Others hold that they may be given contact in their own right if the child's interests require it, particularly where the parent through whom they are related has died. The judge decides this on the facts.
3. Grandparent visitation after divorce, with both parents alive
After a divorce where both parents are still living, the child usually lives with one parent and the other has visitation. This raises a practical question: does the paternal grandfather need visits of his own if the father sees the child regularly? In practice, grandparents often see the child during the non-custodial parent's visits, particularly where those visits take place at the family home. If the parent's visits are regular and allow the grandparents to see the child, there may be no practical need for a separate order.
The need does arise in several situations. The non-custodial parent may travel or live outside Kuwait. The parent may have chosen to drop out of the children's lives. The parent may be on bad terms with their own parents and not take the child to see them. Or the parent's visits may take place at a visitation centre where there is no room for grandparents. In these situations a grandparent has a legitimate reason to ask for separate visitation, and the judge decides whether it should be arranged on its own or combined with the parent's schedule.
Another point on which views differ is whether one child can have several visitation schedules because several people hold the right. The father might visit on one day, the paternal grandfather on another, and the maternal grandparents (if the mother is not the custodian) on a third. The judge has to weigh each person's right against the child's need for stability and enough time for school and rest. The prevailing approach is to avoid overloading the child with competing schedules and to combine visits where possible.
4. Grandparent visitation after the father's death
When the father dies, the child will usually stay in the mother's custody, and the paternal grandparents lose the contact that used to come through their son. Their right of visitation becomes especially important here. There is no longer a father to bring the child to them, and they are often the only people left to represent the father's family. Depending on the order of guardianship, the paternal grandfather may also be the guardian of the child's person or property. That gives him a legal role in important decisions such as education, travel and marriage. It does not give him any right to remove the child from the custodial mother. We explain the difference between custody and guardianship in Guardianship, Tutorship and Curatorship in Kuwaiti Law.
After a father's death, a visitation request is often mixed up with other disputes: the administration of the children's share of the estate by the authority responsible for minors, maintenance where the children's own funds are not enough, and sometimes tension about where the mother lives or whether she remarries. Our advice is to keep visitation separate from these matters as far as possible, so that the child does not become a bargaining chip in a financial dispute. On the management of orphans' property, see The Public Authority for Minors' Affairs in Kuwait.
5. Grandparent visitation after the mother's death
When the mother dies, custody passes to the next person in the order set by law, and women on the mother's side generally come early in that order. The maternal grandmother may therefore become the custodian herself, in which case the father and his family have visitation. If she does not take custody for some reason, the child goes to the next person in line or to the father, according to the law and the court's decision. The maternal grandmother then becomes the one who needs to claim visitation.
The hardest case is where the child lives with the father and a new wife, and the maternal grandmother feels she is being pushed out of the grandchildren's lives. Her right of visitation may then be the only thing keeping the child connected to the late mother's family, and courts give real weight to that connection because it bears on the child's identity and memory of their mother. For the order of custody itself, see our article on custody conditions and forfeiture.
6. Can a grandmother claim custody instead of visitation?
This is a completely different claim. Custody means moving the child into the grandmother's home. It will only succeed if the grandmother is entitled in the statutory order, those ahead of her are absent, unfit or have lost their right on a legal ground, and she meets the conditions for custody herself. Wanting to care for the child, or believing she would do better than the current custodian, is not enough. We therefore ask grandparents to be clear about what they want. If the aim is regular contact, visitation is the simpler and more direct route. If there is a real risk to the child, or a legal ground on which the custodian has lost custody, a custody claim can be considered, supported by evidence.
7. The child's best interests as the governing test
Everything above is subject to one test, the child's best interests. A grandparent's visitation right exists for the child's benefit first and the grandparent's second. As a result:
- Timing is set around the child's school, sleep and medical needs, and takes account of age. What suits an infant is very different from what suits a ten-year-old.
- Location is chosen for the child's safety and comfort. It may be the grandparent's home, the custodian's home, a public place or a visitation centre, depending on how much tension there is between the families.
- The judge may restrict visitation or require it to be supervised if contact with a grandparent is shown to be harmful, for example because the grandparent turns the child against the custodian, puts the child at risk, or draws the child into adult disputes.
- The wishes of a child old enough to form a view are heard and taken into account, but they are not decisive, because a child may be influenced by either side.
So the most persuasive thing a grandparent can show the court is that visits are good for the child, rather than simply insisting on the right. That means showing a warm relationship before the separation, a safe home, a willingness to keep to the agreed times, and a commitment not to discuss family disputes in front of the child.
8. Refusing or obstructing visitation, and what follows
Once a visitation order has been made, a custodian who refuses to allow it is disobeying a court judgment, and that has consequences. First, the order can be enforced through the competent enforcement authorities and the visitation centres. Second, repeated refusal without a good reason may be taken into account when the judge assesses whether the custodian is fit and is properly performing their duties. That assessment is for the judge, and some judicial practice has attached consequences to the custody itself, whether temporary or permanent. Third, the Penal Code contains provisions penalising a failure to hand a child over to a person entitled to the child under a judgment. Whether those provisions apply to a particular visitation dispute depends on the facts and is for the prosecution and the court to decide.
The same applies in the other direction. A person who abuses a visitation right, for example by keeping the child beyond the agreed time, travelling with the child, or turning the child against the custodian, risks having visits restricted or moved to a supervised visitation centre, and may face other legal liability depending on the circumstances. Visitation places obligations on both sides. The custodian must make the child available, and the visitor must keep within the terms of the order.
9. Issues on which jurists disagree, left to the judge
Some questions are not settled expressly by the text, and jurists hold different views on them. We set them out below as disagreements and do not take a side:
- Overnight stays: Visitation is normally a meeting at a fixed time. On whether the child may stay overnight with a grandparent, some jurists say this goes beyond visitation into "hosting", which needs the custodian's consent or a specific decision by the judge. Others allow it for an older child who is used to the grandparents' home, where no harm results. The judge decides according to the child's age and circumstances.
- Whether the grandfather's right is independent while the father is alive: Some say the grandfather's right depends on his son's, so it is met through the father's visits and there is no need for separate visits while the father is alive and visiting regularly. Others treat it as an independent right that does not depend on the father and can be claimed even while he is alive. The judge weighs this against the facts.
- Relatives other than grandparents: As noted above, whether an uncle, aunt or half-sibling has an independent right of contact is a matter of judgment, based on the child's interests and the strength of the bond.
- Video contact: Video calls are now common, so the question arises whether they can form part of a visitation arrangement, particularly for grandparents who live abroad. No express provision deals with this. It is usually agreed between the parties or decided by the judge, and many people involved do not regard it as a full substitute for meeting in person.
Principles Settled by the Courts
Family Court judgments, and the settled position of the Court of Cassation on custody and visitation generally, show the following tendencies:
- The Court of Cassation has consistently held that the child's interests are the centre around which custody and visitation rules turn, and that the trial court has wide discretion to set the time and place of visits so as to serve those interests, provided its decision rests on reasonable grounds supported by the record.
- It has also held that visitation exists to preserve family ties, that a custodian may not use custody as a means of cutting those ties, and that disputes between adults do not justify depriving a child of contact with their ancestors.
- It is also settled that custody and visitation rulings are provisional by nature and can be varied when circumstances change. They do not prevent the issue from being raised again after a new development, such as the death of a parent, the custodian moving home, or a change in the child's age and needs.
- It is further settled that the weight given to the statements and wishes of a child old enough to form a view is for the trial court, which may take them into account without being bound by them.
Methodological note: The principles above are stated in general terms to reflect the settled approach of the Kuwaiti courts on custody and visitation. We do not cite individual appeal numbers. How the principles apply depends on the facts of each case, and they are no substitute for checking recent judgments and confirming that they fit your situation before relying on them in a pleading or claim.
Practical Steps and Documents
Step one: try to reach agreement
Before taking any legal step, make a serious attempt to settle things amicably. Speak to the custodian directly, or through a family member both sides trust, and propose something specific: one day a week or every other week, clear hours, a comfortable place, and an undertaking not to discuss disputes in front of the child. Many custodians refuse an open-ended request because they fear interference, yet agree to a defined and limited arrangement. Put the agreement in writing if you can, even as an exchange of messages. A written agreement is easier to refer back to and can later be formalised.
Step two: the Family Counselling Office
If agreement is not possible, the Family Court Law makes referral to the Family Counselling Office (the family dispute settlement office) an essential stage before filing in many family disputes. The office's specialists try to bring the parties closer and reach a settlement. If they succeed, an agreement is drawn up, approved and becomes enforceable as the law provides. If they do not, the failure is recorded and the way to court is open. This stage is more than a formality. Many grandparent visitation disputes are settled here, because custodians are often reassured when a neutral third party puts the request to them.
Step three: filing a claim with the Family Court
A visitation claim is filed with the competent Family Court. It asks for the grandparent to be allowed to see the grandchild or grandchildren and should include a specific proposal on timing and place. A realistic, balanced proposal has a better chance of being accepted as it stands. Where contact has been cut off for a long time and this is harming the child, interim visitation arrangements can be requested until the court decides the claim.
Documents usually required
- The applicant's civil ID and proof of the relationship to the child: the child's birth certificate and the birth certificate of the parent through whom the relationship runs, or equivalent documents.
- The death certificate of the deceased parent, where relevant, or the divorce certificate if the claim follows a divorce.
- Evidence of who has custody and where they live: the custody judgment if there is one, or other evidence of where the child lives.
- Evidence of the attempt to agree and of the custodian's refusal: messages, family witnesses, or the Family Counselling Office record.
- Evidence of the relationship before contact stopped: photographs, family occasions, statements from relatives. This shows that visitation would continue an existing bond rather than create a new one.
- A written proposal for the visitation schedule and location that takes the child's school and the custodian's circumstances into account.
Step four: enforcing the visitation order
Once the order is made, it should ideally be followed voluntarily. If the custodian refuses, the grandparent can go to the enforcement department responsible for family judgments. Visits then usually take place at designated visitation centres. These are set up to receive children and families in an atmosphere closer to a family setting than a court building. The custodian hands the child over, the visitor spends the allotted time with the child under supervision, and the child is returned at the end. The centre records attendance and absence, which can be used later as evidence when seeking to vary the order or to prove repeated refusal.
If refusals continue, the grandparent can go back to court to change the visitation arrangements or, where the legal conditions are met, approach the criminal authorities. A lawyer will assess which route suits the facts and the child's interests, because escalating is not always the best choice.
Step five: varying the order when circumstances change
A visitation order is not fixed for ever. It can be varied if the child grows old enough for longer visits, the custodian moves far away, the agreed place stops being suitable, or relations deteriorate to the point where supervision is needed. This flexibility is one of the most important protections for the child.
Hypothetical Cases
Case one: a paternal grandmother after her son's death
Khalid dies, leaving two children aged seven and nine in their mother's custody. For the first few months the mother brings them to see their grandmother. Then a disagreement over the estate sours relations and the visits stop altogether. The grandmother does not want custody. She wants to see her grandchildren. The way forward is to separate the estate dispute from the visitation question, try for an agreement through a relative, then go to the Family Counselling Office, and if necessary file a visitation claim proposing one weekday afternoon after school at the grandmother's home. A judge is likely to give weight to the fact that she is the only remaining link to the late father's family and that the relationship was established and stable before it was cut off. If she also asks for the children to stay overnight during school holidays, that is for the judge's discretion, given the difference of opinion described above.
Case two: maternal grandparents while the father has custody
Mona dies when her children are young. Their maternal grandmother has custody for a time, and later custody passes to the father on a legal ground. The father remarries and starts turning down every request from the maternal grandparents to see the children. The maternal grandparents have a right of visitation, and the judge will give particular weight to the children's connection with their late mother's family. They would be wise to propose something that respects the father's new household, such as a visit to their home every other week with some flexibility for special occasions, rather than a broad request that could look like competition with the father.
Case three: a paternal grandfather whose son has disappeared from the children's lives
After the divorce, the father moves abroad for work and loses contact with his children, who are in the mother's custody. The paternal grandfather wants to see his grandchildren. The mother's position is: "Visitation is the father's right, and the father doesn't want it." This raises the question of whether a grandfather has an independent right while the father is alive, on which views differ, as explained above. The grandfather's strongest argument is that the father's absence makes the grandfather's visits the only remaining link between the children and their father's family, and that the children's interest in that link does not disappear because the father has failed them. The judge will decide in the light of the family's circumstances.
Comparisons
- Visitation compared with custody: Visitation is arranged contact without moving the child, and a grandparent can seek it as an ancestor. Custody moves the child into the custodian's home. A grandparent can seek it only if they have a place in the statutory order, meet the conditions, and everyone ahead of them has lost their right.
- Visitation compared with overnight stays: Visitation means set hours at a set place. Overnight stays away from the custodian's home are a matter of discretion on which views differ. They are usually sought for older children who already have a settled relationship with the grandparents.
- After divorce compared with after bereavement: After a divorce, grandparents usually see the child during their son's or daughter's visits. After a death, their own claim is the only way to keep contact, and their case is usually stronger.
- Paternal compared with maternal grandparents: Both are ancestors and both have visitation rights. The paternal grandfather may also be guardian of the child's person or property, depending on the circumstances. The maternal grandmother often ranks high in the order of custody.
- Agreement compared with a court order: An agreement is quicker, less stressful and keeps relations intact. An order is binding and enforceable, but the visits it produces are usually more formal.
- Home visits compared with visitation centres: A home is warmer for the child and suits calm relationships. A visitation centre is safer and supervised, and is used where tensions are high or an order is being enforced.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do grandparents have a legal right to see their grandchildren in Kuwait?
Yes. Under the Personal Status Law the right of visitation extends to grandparents and is not limited to the father and mother. It is exercised in the child's best interests and arranged either by agreement or by an order of the Family Court.
Does the right end when our son or daughter dies?
No. The right comes from your relationship with your grandchild, not from the parent being alive. In fact a parent's death makes your visits more important, because you become the child's link to that parent's family.
Does the right cover grandparents on both sides?
As generally understood, yes. Paternal and maternal grandparents are both ancestors of the child, and the reason for the right applies equally to both. Disputes usually involve the grandparents on the non-custodial side.
Do we have to go to the Family Counselling Office before filing a claim?
The Family Court Law makes referral to the Family Counselling Office a stage before filing in many family disputes, and visitation is generally one of them. Check the current procedural requirements when you begin, because this stage often resolves the dispute without a hearing.
Who decides where and when visits take place?
The parties agree on this in the first place. If they cannot agree, the judge decides according to the child's interests, taking into account the child's age and schooling, the custodian's circumstances and the level of tension between the families.
Can visits take place at the grandparents' home?
Yes, if both sides agree or the judge considers it in the child's interests and not harmful. Where tensions are high or an order is being enforced, visits may take place at a visitation centre or another neutral location.
Can our grandchild stay overnight with us?
Overnight stays go beyond visitation in the traditional sense. Jurists differ: some require the custodian's consent, while others allow a judge to order it for an older child who is used to the grandparents' home. The final decision is the judge's, based on the child's circumstances.
What can we do if the custodian ignores a visitation order?
The order is enforced through the authority responsible for enforcing family judgments, and visits usually take place at a supervised visitation centre. The custodian's refusal is recorded. Repeated refusal without good reason may have consequences, which the judge assesses, and there may be criminal liability where the legal conditions are met.
Can the custodian ask the court to stop a grandparent's visits?
The custodian can ask for visits to be restricted, varied or supervised if they show that the visits harm the child, for example through turning the child against them, mistreatment, or drawing the child into adult disputes. A personal quarrel between adults is not enough on its own to cut a child off from their grandparents.
Does the child's opinion count?
The judge takes into account the views and wishes of a child old enough to form them, but is not bound by them, because a child may be influenced by one side. What matters is the child's real interest as the judge assesses it.
Do uncles and aunts also have a right to see the child?
The text does not expressly give them an independent right of visitation, and the question is open to interpretation. Their contact with the child is usually kept through the visits of a parent or grandparent, and the judge may consider special cases.
I am a grandparent living outside Kuwait. Can contact be by video call?
No express provision deals with video contact. It is often written into amicable agreements, and it can be put to the judge as a supplement to in-person visits when you are in Kuwait. The judge decides according to the child's interests.
Can a visitation order be changed after it is made?
Yes. Visitation orders are provisional by nature and can be varied when circumstances change, for example when the child grows older, the custodian moves, or the place or timing turns out to be unsuitable.
Conclusion
Grandparents' visitation is not a sentimental extra, and it is not interference with custody. It is a right recognised by the Personal Status Law to protect family ties, and it exists first of all for the child's benefit. It does not end when parents divorce or when one of them dies. After a death it becomes more valuable, because the grandparents may be the child's only connection to the late parent's family.
Having a strong right does not mean confrontation is the best way to exercise it. In most cases the most effective route begins with a specific and balanced proposal, continues through the Family Counselling Office, and reaches the court only if those steps fail. In court, the child's best interests decide the matter, and the judge has wide discretion over timing, place and supervision, and over disputed questions such as overnight stays and whether a grandfather has an independent right while the father is alive.
Our advice to grandparents is to present yourselves to the court and to the custodian as support for the child, not as a party to the dispute. Keep to the agreed times, do not talk about adult conflicts in front of the children, and keep visitation separate from disputes over the estate or maintenance. That is the quickest way to regular, stable visits, and it gives you the strongest case if you do have to go to court. For the wider framework of family life after separation, see Divorce in Kuwaiti Law and Custody and Maintenance in Kuwaiti Law.
Legal Notice and Contact
This article is general legal information and is not legal advice on any particular case. Custody and visitation outcomes depend heavily on each family's facts, on the school of law that applies to the parties, and on developments in case law. Please have your situation reviewed by a qualified lawyer before you take any step.
If you are a grandparent who has lost contact with your grandchildren, or a custodian who wants to arrange visits in a way that keeps the child settled, the team at Yumnaak Law Firm can review your situation, help with the amicable approach, represent you before the Family Counselling Office and the Family Court, and follow up on enforcement. You can contact us or book an appointment at our office.
