AIBU my best friend's daughter only had a Muslim marriage and we are worried about custody of her son? (title edited by MNHQ at request of OP)

The Mum hasn't worked in the last 3 years. The house is in his sole name and she contributed to the deposit but is not on the mortgage documents. The father is named on the birth certificate

She needs a good solicitor, re UK law as opposed to religious law. They were not legally married and she isn’t named on any legal documents so she has no obvious rights to their joint house. If she isn’t earning and is effectively homeless he has a strong case to increase the amount of contact he has, in the DCs best interest. This doesn’t mean he can take the child out of the country though on a whim. Does the child have a passport already? Who has it if they do?

Forget about Sharia law and focus solely on UK law. Your daughter needs to find a good solicitor and get some proper advice based on her actual situation.

BTW, people keep going on about "custody" on MN, but there's no such thing in UK law.

If she isn’t earning and is effectively homeless he has a strong case to increase the amount of contact he has, in the DCs best interest

Not if the mother has been the main carer for the child up until now. Taking the child away from his mother would be the reverse of "in the DC's best interest".

But they need legal advice, not MN advice.

If she didn't also do a registry office wedding certificate, then it is much simpler for them to separate as a previously co-habiting couple.

If he's paying her £1000 a month, he's likely to be fulfilling his obligations to child support. She can check via the online calculator on the CSA website.

She will be entitled to claim Universal Credit if she doesn't have income or savings. She might be eligible to go on the list for social housing.

They need to undergo mediation to establish child custody arrangements and she can stipulate no overseas travel for her children without her permission. I strongly advise getting a solicitor for advice before going to family court.

Apologies, I didn’t word it well. I’m not for one second suggesting that it is definitely in the DCs best interest to be separated from their mother more. But spelled out to a court as above - home ownership and regular income vs neither of those things…i’m fully in agreement with you that the DD needs good legal advice as I suggested.

My advice would be to keep or apply for passports for the children and keep them in a secure place away from the family home.
Unless there is any 'wrong doing' the father would have parental rights as he is named on the birth certificate.
I think your concern is that he may try to leave the country with the children and not return. It's all well and good saying he's not allowed to do this but people do....and it's very difficult getting the children back. Is there any reason for your daughter to think he would do this? He's paying child support so at some level he has the children's welfare at heart though evicting them from the family home isn't a great move.
Where are they staying now? You mention your daughter being hospitalised due to her mental health. Is this an isolated incident or has she had previous/ongoing episodes requiring in patient care? Any decisions made regards the children should be in their best interest. A loving stable relationship with the wider family eg you will be taken into consideration.

Child custody is not connected to whether the couple were married or not.

Her marriage is not legally recognised, so she is treated as if she was unmarried. Not sure why ypu think that she would not get anywhere in the family courts. Plenty of unmarried couples go through the family courts to sort custody. The fact that she contributed to the deposit is something she should speak to a solicitor about.

She might want to start looking after herself so he doesn't claim she isn't fit to care for the child. She can look into a prohibited steps order to ensure he doesn't take the child out of the country. Your post suggests he has PR so equal rights.

they’ll be treated as unmarried couple and ignore sharia courts, which have no legal standing in the U.K. and are not allowed to give any dodgy rulings in this country. I wish more women people would realise the Islamic nikah done the U.K. is not a legal contract like it is in countries which follow Islamic law. More often than not the man insists they don’t need a it legalising and more often than not the man encourages the woman to leave work as hell provide everything until shit hits the fan and she’s left with nothing.

you need a really good lawyer and she may even get to stay in the marital home until children are 18 and/or get a share because of her deposit.

often these men will say sharia law says this or that and tell the woman he has to gain custody but that’s just BS as it means nothing in the U.K. so please don’t let your daughter fall for that.

also get in touch with women’s aid in case he’s been abusive (coercion, control is also abuse) and they can advise on things too. Keep things formal with him, any contact in writing so emails, texts etc.

Child arrangements in the UK has zero bearings on if the parents are married.

She can take him to court for a prohibitive steps order to prevent him removing any of the children from the UK.

You can't "add" a child to your passport in the UK.

OP you should ask MNHQ to move this to legal.

You can't get a child 'added on' to your passport. They require their own. If they don't have a passport already then the mother needs to get in there first and never let her ex have the passports.

If you don’t know whether he has been abusive follow this link and domestic abuse victims can get legal aid, so she needs to gather evidence when she’s is well enough.

https://www.womensaid.org.uk/information-support/what-is-domestic-abuse/

i am not a lawyer but I believe under the children’s Act she can stay in his house if she was the primary carer even without being married and having her name on the house or mortgage but without a lawyer she would be stuck.

in terms of family law they don’t need to be married and for her to block any attempts for him leaving the country. I often wonder why so many parents watch their daughters have nikah only ‘marriages’ and don’t warn them of consequences once they let go of their financial independence.

She can apply for child support without needing a lawyer but if she’s not well enough I don’t think anyone else can on her behalf really.

Poor child. Dad disappears and mum reacts by starving herself into hospital.
I hope the grandparents can at least provide some stability.