KUNZ v PRETORIUS 1982 (2) ZLR 24 (H)

Flynote

Parent and child — custody — awarded to mother following divorce — child c then by order of Juvenile Court placed in a home as a child in need of care — subsequent application to High Court for custody to be awarded to father — not proper for High Court to make order in conflict with that of Juvenile Court — custody awarded to father, subject to provisions of order of Juvenile Court.

Headnote

The plaintiff and defendant were formerly husband and wife and parents of a child. On their divorce the custody of the child was awarded to the defendant, the child's mother. Because of her subsequent mental and emotional problems, the child (and two other children of hers by a previous marriage) were by order of the Juvenile Court placed in a home, as e children In need of care. The plaintiff wished custody to be awarded to him, the evidence clearly supporting his claim, and the question arose as to what the correct procedure should be, there being in effect an order of the Juvenile Court placing the child in the custody off the person in charge of the home.

Held, that the question was not one of which Court was the senior, but which course was more conducive to stability of administration. It was undesirable, indeed wrong, to interfere with an order of the Juvenile Court and the best course would be to award custody to the plaintiff father, subject to the Juvenile Court order presently in force.