Child custody in Egypt

The father is the child's guardian (wali) and the mother has custody (hadana) of the child's daily care.

For a child born outside a valid marriage the father has no automatic rights, and the mother has custody. Take local advice.

The unmarried father, in one line: Depends on the parents' religion or personal law.

After divorce the mother has custody until the child is 15, and the father remains the guardian who makes major decisions. At 15 the child can choose to stay with the mother or live with the father.

The child chooses at 15.

Egypt is not a party to the Hague Child Abduction Convention, so there is no treaty route to have a child returned.

Egypt is not in force under the 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention, so there is no treaty route to ask for a child to be returned. Local advice is essential.

• Non-Muslim communities, such as Coptic Christians, are subject to the personal-status law of their own community.

Egypt belongs to the Religious (Islamic) law is a leading source family. Family law grows out of the legal tradition, so it helps to know how the system works.

Read the Egypt legal-system profile in the Legal Families Atlas →
Who owns what in a marriage in Egypt? →

• State Information Service of Egypt