Adjudicating Children’s Rights after Divorce: Ḥaḍānah, Maintenance, and Relational Continuity in Three Rulings of the Palu Religious Court

Abstract

Abstract: Divorce terminates the marital bond between two spouses, yet it does not extinguish the legal relationship that binds parents to their children. This study examines how the Palu Religious Court constructs protection for the rights of children after divorce, how the bench reasons toward that protection, and whether the resulting rulings conform to Islamic law and to Indonesian positive law. The research adopts a normative legal design combined with a case approach, and it analyses three first-instance rulings handed down between 2024 and 2026, namely Decision No. 841/Pdt.G/2024/PA.Pal, Decision No. 182/Pdt.G/2025/PA.Pal, and Decision No. 4/Pdt.G/2026/PA.Pal. Primary legal materials comprise the Marriage Law, the Child Protection Law, the Compilation of Islamic Law, and the three rulings themselves, while interviews with a sitting judge and a court registrar supply supporting information. The analysis shows that protection is assembled from components recurring in varying combinations, namely the allocation of ḥaḍānah to the caregiver assessed as most capable, the imposition of a maintenance obligation on the father calibrated to his earning capacity, and the preservation of the child's access to the non-custodial parent. Two rulings attach an annual escalation of ten per cent to the award, which extends protection beyond the moment of adjudication. Judicial reasoning consistently weighs the needs established at trial against the paternal capacity proved in evidence, and that method matches the standard laid down in Supreme Court Circular Letter No. 3 of 2018. No substantive divergence from Islamic law or positive law was found in any ruling. The study nevertheless identifies a residual weakness, because none of the awards is secured through the guarantee mechanism available under Circular Letter No. 5 of 2021.