Family & Children's Rights
Father Abandons Family and Refuses to Pay Child Maintenance
When a divorced father claims financial responsibility for his children ended with the marriage
Premium
intermediate
8 minutes
The Situation
What They Said
“I divorced her — she got what she deserved in the settlement. The children are her responsibility now.”
A couple has divorced and the father has relocated, remarried, or simply disengaged from his children's lives. He has made no consistent financial contribution toward the children's food, school fees, or medical care since the separation, taking the position that the divorce settlement discharged his obligations to the family unit. The mother is struggling to meet basic needs alone. This situation is common across Nigeria, where courts grant divorces but enforcement of maintenance orders is inconsistent, and where cultural norms sometimes position child-rearing as the mother's domain after marital breakdown. The father may not appreciate — or may be deliberately ignoring — the fact that his legal obligation to his children is entirely separate from and unaffected by the dissolution of his marriage.
The Fallacy
Divorce Discharges Parental Obligation
The father is conflating two separate legal relationships: his marriage to his ex-wife, which has ended, and his parenthood of their children, which has not. Divorce dissolves the marital contract between two spouses — it does not dissolve the parent-child relationship, and it does not discharge the statutory duty to maintain one's children. Nigerian law is explicit that the obligation to provide for a child's basic needs flows from parenthood, not from marriage. The settlement in the divorce proceedings addresses the division of matrimonial property between the former spouses; it does not and cannot waive the children's independent legal entitlement to maintenance from both parents.
What the Law Says
Your Legal Foundation
Matrimonial Causes Act, Cap M7 LFN 2004
Section 71 — Court-Ordered Maintenance for Children
“The court may, having regard to the means, earning capacity and conduct of the parties, make such order as it thinks proper for the maintenance of the children of the marriage.”
Section 71 empowers a court to make a maintenance order that is separate from the divorce settlement itself. The mother can apply to the Family Court for a maintenance order setting a specific regular payment. This order binds the father regardless of any informal understanding or the terms of the divorce — the court has independent jurisdiction to set child maintenance based on what the children need and what the father can afford.
Child Rights Act 2003 (CRA), No. 26 of 2003
Section 14 — Parental Maintenance Obligation
“Every parent or guardian of a child has a duty to — (a) maintain the child; and (b) provide the child with good care, including medical care, education and psychological guidance.”
Section 14 of the CRA establishes maintenance as a legal duty — not a discretionary act of generosity — that attaches to the status of being a parent. The word 'every' is unrestricted: it applies to fathers and mothers, married and divorced, resident and absent. The obligation covers not just food but also healthcare and education. A father who withholds maintenance is in breach of this statutory duty and can face legal proceedings.
Child Rights Act 2003, No. 26 of 2003
Section 17 — Welfare of the Child as Paramount Consideration
“In every matter concerning a child, the welfare and best interests of the child shall be the primary consideration.”
Section 17 guides how courts interpret and apply all other provisions of the CRA. When a father argues that his divorce settlement or personal financial preferences justify not supporting his children, the court will measure that argument against the standard of the children's best interests — and the children's need for consistent financial support will invariably weigh heavily.
What Scripture Says
God's Word on This
1 Timothy 5:8 (NIV)
“Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”
Paul's language here is unusually strong — he frames failure to provide for one's family not as an oversight but as a moral renunciation. A father who has the means to support his children but chooses not to — hiding behind a divorce settlement — is failing a responsibility that goes deeper than law. Both the legal duty under the CRA and this moral standard point in the same direction: the children's needs do not disappear when a marriage does.
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What They'll Say Next
Common Counter-Arguments
After you respond, they may push back with these arguments. Members get the full rebuttal for each.
They might say: “She took the children without my consent — I won't pay maintenance until the custody dispute is resolved.”
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They might say: “I'm unemployed right now — I genuinely cannot pay maintenance.”
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