Matrimonial Causes (28)
HELD:
"A decree of divorce or of nullity of marriage must not be made absolute, and a decree of judicial separation must not be granted unless the Court is satisfied that arrangements have been made for the welfare of every child of the family.
HELD:
"I think, it is apposite, at this juncture to resort to the position of the law on the right to custody of children in situation where a marriage has been broken down, and the husband and wife (father and mother) are no longer living together.
HELD:
"How can the right of custody of children be determined under the Customary Law?
HELD:
"On issue 1 - that whether based on established fact, admitted by both the parties that they had been living apart for a minimum of three years preceding the filing of the cross petition, the trial Court was right to hold that the Appellant did not establish that the parties lived apart so as to entitle him to a decree of dissolution of marriage, this issue arose from ground 1 of the grounds of appeal.
HELD:
"It is on record that one of the reliefs of the Respondent in her petition at the trial Court is for the custody of the children of the marriage.
HELD:
"A child's paternity or affinity is not considered through physical resemblance but by consideration of the period within which the child is born after consummation of the marriage of his parents" See JATAU V. MAILAFIYA (1998) LPELR-1598(SC) Per MOHAMMED, J.S.C. (Pp.10-11, Para. G)
HELD:
"I had earlier referred to the case of Anozia Vs. Nnani (2015) 8 NWLR (pt 1461) 241, to the effect that when a child is born within wedlock, the presumption is conclusive that the child is the seed or product of the marriage". See DURU v. DURU (2016) LPELR-40444(CA)Per MBABA, J.C.A. (P. 37, Paras. E-F)
HELD:
"Under the English Legal system, paternity is even presumed, once a child is born within wedlock, not minding whether the mother had "an away match"?, that is, was conceived by another man (unknown to the husband).
HELD:
"How can paternity be proved? Paternity of a child can be determined by three major ways which are akin to the ways of proving legitimacy of a child. They are: (1) Paternity by existing Marriage: A child born during the pendency of a valid marriage between a couple is automatically presumed to be legitimate. (2) Paternity by Subsequent Marriage to the mother: This occurs when a child is born at a time when the mother was not married to the father and after whose birth the mother and father entered into a valid marriage. (3) Paternity by acknowledgement by the father accepting paternity of the child: This includes paying for the hospital bills and upkeep of the child, introducing the child to his family as his child etc.
HELD: