Child Custody — Overnight Access · 22 June 2026
'Child Needs More Time to Acclimatise': Delhi High Court Replaces Overnight Custody With Daytime Custody
High Court of Delhi · 2026 LiveLaw (Del) 583; MAT.APP.(F.C.) 213/2026
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A Family Court's interim order permitted a father overnight custody of his minor son for a short period, while itself noting that the child had never previously stayed overnight with the father and might need time to adjust. The mother appealed, clarifying she had no objection to the father's visitation rights generally but objected specifically to the overnight component, given the child had never stayed with him overnight before. The father argued that custody and visitation directions are interlocutory in nature, and that an overnight stay would help the child grow comfortable with him.
The Delhi High Court found the Family Court's own order internally inconsistent — it had recognised that the child needed more time to acclimatise, yet granted unsupervised overnight custody straight away. The High Court set aside the overnight custody direction and substituted it with full daytime custody, from 9 AM to 8 PM daily, for the same period the Family Court had set aside for the father's custody, so that the child could still spend extended time with him while returning to a familiar bedtime environment each night.
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