Here’s a little wrinkle in Saudi marriage and divorce laws of which I wasn’t aware. ‘Til now, only the ex-husband in a divorce received the original divorce documents. But a divorced woman needs to produce the original documents before she can remarry. This lets husbands delay or otherwise compromise the woman’s ability to move on simply by not letting her have the papers.
This piece, running in Saudi Gazette/Okaz, says that now the woman will receive the original copies of the divorce documents while the husband will receive photocopies. I suspect that husbands, too, need the originals at some point, though. So why can’t both receive originals? Make the document in two parts, each of which is considered original, and give them to both parties. That can’t be terribly complicated. Or is there some aspect of Shariah law that dislikes having two ‘originals’?
Women to get original divorce papers
Hana Al-IlwaniJEDDAH – A divorced woman now has the right to have the original copy of her official court divorce document, judicial sources have said.
The divorced husband will only receive a photocopy of the document.
The ministry has taken the step following complaints of some divorced women that their ex-husbands used the original copy to blackmail them or their families, the ministry said. The complaints stated that divorced women have had a hard time getting their official divorce documents from their ex-husbands.
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March:14:2010 - 10:09
I agree with you. A similar issue has come up before when it was remarked that husband keeps the marriage documents under lock and key and doesn’t tell the wife where he kept them. I just can’t understand why both of them can’t have a copy of their marriage documents and divorce papers after divorce in original. This seems to be the most logical process and it is followed in many countries.
March:14:2010 - 11:22
Hmmm interesting!
March:15:2010 - 00:05
Perhaps there is less potential for blackmailing ex-husbands and the idea of original is being conceptualized in a very narrow sense. With current computer printing of copies it is hard to perceive original in the same way as in the past eg if I am asked to submit an article with the original and 4 copies I have the computer print 5 exactly the same and just choose one to be the “original”.
Ideally both parties would have originals of marriage and divorce certificates, but I am not sure how often this is done in other countries. I have never heard of issuing duplicate marriage certificates, but I would imagine each lawyer in a divorce case is provided with the final decree and the final agreement for their respective client. Just guessing though.
March:15:2010 - 10:04
In many countries, governments permit the creation of ‘certified copies’ of documents and their use in legal affairs as equivalent to ‘original’ documents. It is a relatively trivial exercise to get a certified copy of one’s birth certificate or marriage/divorce papers. This appears not to be the case in the KSA.
March:15:2010 - 12:37
John–Agreed. With the right ID in Canada it is easy to get one’s own, and one’s ascendants and descendants official civil documents. I also got birth certificates, and marraige certificate from Italy for my grandparents for use in my Italian citizenship application. Certified and notarized copies are often used in lieu of originals anyway. It seems that Saudi places too great a trust in the good will or Islamic behaviour of the divorcé towards the divorcée. The good will if there is any usually comes years later and is still limited, in my experience of a variety of cultures.