Parental Care.
The relevant law is The Relations of Patents and Children Law. (Law 216 of 1990, as amended by Law 60(I) of 1995, Law 95(I) of 1997, Law 60(I) of 1997, and Law 21(I) of 1998),. Section 5 (1)(b) of the Law defines the term "parental care" to include the following:

1. determination of the child's name,
2. care of the child,
3. administration of the child's property, and
4. representation of the child in his personal or property relations.

Section 9(1) of the said Law deals with the matter of "care" and it includes:

1. the upbringing of the child,
2. matters relating to custody and education, and
3. determination of the child's domicile.

As far as the administration of the child's property is concerned, this is a matter that belongs to both parents who may maintain, develop, and increase it. It should be noted that both parents have a duty and a right to exercise parental care and the primary consideration in assigning parental care by the court are the interests of the child.

Following section 5(2) and (3) of the Law parental care is limited lawfully to one parent in the cases in case of death of one of the parents or where one has disappeared or
where there is a real incapacity and/or total or partial incapacity to contract.

Interest of the Child.
The "interest of the child" is not clearly defined anywhere. Section 9(2) of Law states that parents are under the obligation to bring up a child in such circumstances so as to enable it to develop its personality freely and with a social conscience.

Who will get Parental Care?
As far as parental care is concerned the following points may be noted:

The Court will make a decision on parental care when the two parents disagree as to who will exercise it and in cases of divorce, interruption of marital life, or annulment.
The basic consideration for the Court is the interest of the child.

The interest of the child may include the duty of the parent to provide the child with the appropriate means to develop his personality (discipline, custody, and education).
The Court may assign parental case to both parents or to a third person if this is appropriate. In its decision the Court will respect the equality of the parents and will not make any sex, religious, racial, ethnic or other discrimination. The relations of the child with his parents and brothers and sisters are taken into account. The Court will also look and take into account any agreements reached between the parents about this issue. The character of the parents, their abilities, environment of work and home, their profession, and all their social activities are also relevant factors. The opinion of the child is a key element in the Court's decision and the Court must seek it (section 6(3) of the Law). The Court will also decide whether the child is mature enough to take the appropriate decision and whether it was influenced by one of the parents. Another major concern for the Court is the time that each parent has to deal with parental care personally. The fact that the mother has entered into a new relation with another man does not as such preclude her from parental care. Finally, it should be stressed that each case is different and the Court will always look into the facts of each case and examine it differently from each other.