Children are silent sufferers in Matrimonial Disputes. The four cases, court atmosphere, their parental rights all these events around them create lot many questions in their mind. This effect may vary according to age of child, economic conditions of family, educational status of parents, reason of parental disharmony, period of cohabitation of the parents, presence or absence of sibling and his/ her company, personalities of parents and of child, so on and so forth. I felt that I must hear voice to these voiceless children. During my data collection I had interviewed children and professionals dealing with these cases. This book analyses the judgements in these cases. The book gives information on laws related to children with special focus on issue of custody of Children in Matrimonial Disputes. It gives the information about changes made in laws over the years. The information on Family Courts Act and Procedure is also included as the study was conducted at Family Courts in State of Maharashtra. The Matrimonial disharmony (reasons) and its effects on children are also included in this book. The data collected at Family Courts in State Of Maharashtra is analysed to find out judicial trends. The lacunas in the present laws are identified. The major contribution of this study is in area of giving objective guidelines for the court while deciding welfare of the child in these Disputes. Another important contribution is it also gives guidelines for deciding access or visiting rights of noncustodial parent. Still another inclusion in this book is it provided guidelines for recording child interview in these cases. The book suggests certain amendments in present law. It also provides suggestions in modification in procedures in handling these Disputes. It is not just theoretical information but it is supplemented by the study of these cases as an insider as well as a researcher/ PhD scholar. This book will definitely help not only all professionals working in this area but will also help the parents experiencing conflicting situations. I sincerely hope that amendment in present Acts is done on the basis of the findings of this in-depth study.

Sujata More Chavan I have done my graduation in paramedical branch namely Audiology and Speech Therapy at T.N. Medical College, Mumbai. Masters in Social Work was done from Tata Institute of Social Sciences. My specialisation for LLM was Hindu Law. PG Diploma in Human Rights was completed from New Delhi. I worked for initial 6 years at hospitals in Mumbai. In Oct. 1989 the Family Court was established at Mumbai. I joined the Family Court since its establishment as marriage Counsellor and worked till Nov. 2013. While working at Family Court, the most challenging task was of handling custody disputes, especially where the child has equal attachment with both the parents. This has inspired me to study these Disputes in detail. Since I am from social and legal recipients, I had submitted my thesis for PhD (Law), titled, Interpretative Analysis of Judicial Trends in Deciding Custody of Children in Matrimonial Disputes. This book is based on this study. In Nov. 2013, I joined Tata Institute of Social Sciences as Asst. Prof. at Advanced Centre For Women Studies.