Where divorce is pronounced on grounds of prejudice, the court may fix, in the same judgment, the amount of compensation due in respect of the prejudice. SECTION II: - OF FAILURE TO PROVIDE MAINTENANCE
Family Code (Moudawana)
Unofficial translation. The English interface is for information only — only the Arabic text published in the Bulletin Officiel is authentic. Read this page in العربية · Français
The wife may request judicial divorce for the husband's failure to fulfil the obligation of maintenance, due and payable, in the cases and in accordance with the provisions below: 1) if the husband has property from which maintenance may be levied, the court shall decide the means of enforcement of such levy and shall not procee…
The foregoing provisions shall apply to an absent husband who is in a known place, after he has received the application initiating proceedings. Where the place where the absent husband is located is unknown, the court shall ascertain this with the assistance of the public prosecution, verify the validity of the action brought b…
If the husband is absent from the conjugal home for a period exceeding one year, the wife has the right to request judicial divorce. The court shall ascertain, by all means, such absence, its duration and the place where the absent husband is located. The court shall notify the husband, whose address is known, of the application…
If the address of the absent husband is unknown, the court shall, with the assistance of the public prosecution, initiate such procedures as it deems useful in order to notify him of the wife's application, including the appointment of a curator. In the absence of appearance by the husband, the court shall pronounce the divorce.
If the husband is serving a sentence of reclusion or imprisonment exceeding three years, the wife may request judicial divorce after one year of detention. In any event, the wife may request divorce after two years of her spouse's detention. SECTION IV: - OF REDHIBITORY DEFECT
The following shall be considered redhibitory defects liable to compromise conjugal life and permitting a request to terminate it: 1) defects preventing conjugal relations; 2) illnesses endangering the life or health of the other spouse and whose recovery cannot be hoped for within one year. - 44 -
The admissibility of the request to terminate the conjugal ties, made by one of the spouses on account of a redhibitory defect, shall be subject to the following conditions: 1) if the spouse requesting the divorce had not been aware of the defect affecting the other spouse at the time of the conclusion of the marriage contract;…
In the event of judicial divorce for redhibitory defect and if the marriage has not been consummated, the husband shall not be required to pay the Sadaq. After consummation of the marriage, the husband has the right to request restitution of the amount of the Sadaq from the person who misled him or who knowingly concealed the redhibitory defect from him.
If the husband became aware of the redhibitory defect before the conclusion of the marriage and the divorce took place before consummation, the husband shall be required to pay the wife half of the Sadaq.
Recourse shall be had to the expertise of specialists to establish the defect or illness. SECTION V: - OF THE OATH OF CONTINENCE (LLAA) AND OF ABANDONMENT (HAJR)
Where the husband swears an oath of continence in respect of his wife or abandons her, she may refer the matter to the court, which shall grant the husband a period of four months. Once this period has elapsed and if the husband does not return to a better course, the divorce shall be pronounced by the court. - 45 - SECTION VI: - OF ACTIONS FOR JUDICIAL DIVORCE
Except in the case of absence, actions for judicial divorce based on one of the causes referred to in Article 98 above shall be ruled upon after an attempt at conciliation, within a maximum period of six months, save in particular circumstances. The court shall also rule, where appropriate, on the rights due to the wife and chil…
The two spouses may agree on the principle of terminating their conjugal union, either without conditions or with conditions, provided that such conditions are not incompatible with the provisions of this Code and do not prejudice the interests of the children. In the event of agreement, the divorce application shall be submitte…
The two spouses may agree to divorce by Khol in accordance with the provisions of Article 114 above. - 46 -
The consent of an adult woman to the compensation in order to obtain her divorce by Khol is valid. If the consent comes from a minor woman, the divorce is acquired and the minor is bound to the compensation only with the agreement of her legal representative.
The wife is entitled to restitution of the compensation if she establishes that her divorce by Khol is the result of coercion or if she has suffered harm caused to her by her husband. In all cases, the divorce is acquired.
Anything that may legally be the subject of an obligation may validly serve as consideration in matters of divorce by Khol, provided that this does not give rise, on the part of the husband, to an abuse or excess.
In the event of the mother's insolvency, the compensation as consideration for her divorce by Khol must not be paid at the expense of the children's rights or their maintenance allowance. If the mother divorced by Khol who has given the maintenance allowance of her children as compensation becomes insolvent, the maintenance shal…
If the two spouses agree in principle to divorce by Khol without agreeing on the consideration, the matter is brought before the court with a view to an attempt at conciliation. Where such attempt proves impossible, the court declares the divorce by Khol valid, after having assessed the consideration, taking into account the amo…
If the dispute between the spouses is brought before the courts and their cohabitation proves impossible, the court may, of its own motion or on request, take the provisional measures it deems appropriate with regard to the wife and the children, including the choice to reside with one of the close relatives of the wife or of th…
Any divorce pronounced by the court is irrevocable, except divorce for oath of continence and divorce for failure of maintenance.
Any divorce effected by the husband is revocable, except divorce pronounced following two previous successive divorces, divorce occurring before consummation of the marriage, divorce by mutual consent, divorce by Khol and that resulting from a right of option granted by the husband to his wife.
The husband may resume the conjugal ties with his wife during the period of widowhood. The husband who wishes the restoration of conjugal ties with his wife, after a revocable divorce, must have the act of resumption established by two adoul, who shall immediately inform the judge thereof. The judge must, before homologating the…
At the expiry of the period of widowhood following a revocable divorce, the woman is definitively separated from her husband.
Irrevocable divorce (Bain), other than that pronounced following two previous successive divorces, immediately dissolves the conjugal ties, but does not prevent the conclusion of a new marriage contract between the same spouses.
Divorce pronounced following two previous successive divorces immediately dissolves the conjugal ties and prohibits remarriage with the divorced wife, unless she has observed the period of widowhood following the dissolution of another marriage, effectively and legally consummated with another husband.
Judicial decisions rendered in matters of judicial divorce, divorce by Khol or termination of marriage, in accordance with the provisions of this Book, shall not be subject to any appeal in their part terminating the conjugal ties. Judgments of divorce, judicial divorce, divorce by Khol or termination of marriage, rendered by fo…
The period of widowhood begins from the date of divorce under judicial supervision, judicial divorce, termination of marriage or death of the husband.
A woman divorced before consummation of the marriage and who has not had lawful relations with her spouse is not subject to the period of widowhood (Idda), except in the event of the death of the husband.
The divorced woman and the widow observe the period of widowhood in the conjugal domicile or in another place reserved for that purpose. SECTION I: - PERIOD OF WIDOWHOOD BY REASON OF DEATH
The period of widowhood of a widow who is not pregnant is four months and ten clear days. SECTION II: - PERIOD OF WIDOWHOOD OF A PREGNANT WOMAN
The period of widowhood of a pregnant woman ends upon delivery or following a termination of pregnancy.
If the woman in the waiting period claims to be pregnant and there is a dispute, the court seized shall have an expert assessment carried out by specialists to establish that there is a pregnancy and to determine, - 50 - where appropriate, the period of its commencement in order to decide on the continuation or the end of the waiting period.
The maximum duration of pregnancy is one year from the date of divorce or death.
The waiting period that a non-pregnant woman must observe is: 1) three complete intermenstrual periods for a woman subject to menstrual flow; 2) three months for a woman who has never been subject to menstrual flow or who has reached menopause. If she menstruates before the end of the waiting period, it is extended by three inte…
A woman divorced revocably whose husband dies during the waiting period for divorce moves from that period to the waiting period for death. TITLE VIII: ON THE FORMALITIES AND CONTENT OF THE DEED OF DIVORCE UNDER JUDICIAL SUPERVISION
The document recording the divorce under judicial supervision is drawn up by two adoul, legally authorized for that purpose, after authorization by the court and upon production of the document establishing the marriage. - 51 -
The document establishing the divorce must include the following particulars: 1) the date and the number assigned to the divorce authorization; 2) the identity of the former spouses, their place of residence, their national identity card or equivalent; 3) the date of the marriage deed, its number and folio in the register referred to in Article 68 above; 4) the nature of the divorce, specifying whether it is the first, second or third.
The document establishing the divorce under judicial supervision belongs to the wife and must be delivered to her within a period of fifteen days following the date on which this document was drawn up. The former husband has the right to obtain a copy of the said document.
The court transmits an extract of the document of divorce under judicial supervision, of resumption of marriage, of the decision of judicial divorce, of termination of the marriage deed or of its nullity, to which a certificate of delivery is attached, to the civil registrar of the place of birth of each of the spouses, within a…
Parental filiation is realized by the procreation of the child by his parents. It is legitimate or illegitimate.
Parental filiation is legitimate in respect of the father and the mother until proof to the contrary.
Parental filiation in respect of the father is legitimate in cases where one of the grounds of paternal filiation exists. It produces all the legal effects of paternal filiation.
As soon as the parental filiation of a child of unknown origin is established following either an acknowledgment of kinship or a decision of the judge, the child becomes legitimate, acquires the filiation of his father and follows the latter's religion. They inherit from each other; the establishment of paternal filiation entails impediments to marriage and creates rights and duties between the father and the child.
Filiation, whether it results from a legitimate or illegitimate relationship, is the same in relation to the mother as regards the effects it produces.
Filiation in respect of the mother is established by: - the fact of giving birth; - 54 - - the acknowledgment of the mother under the same conditions as those provided for in Article 160 below; - a judicial decision. Filiation vis-à-vis the mother is legitimate in cases where it results from a marriage, sexual intercourse by error (Choubha) or rape.
Illegitimate filiation produces none of the effects of legitimate parental filiation vis-à-vis the father.
Adoption (Attabani) is legally void and entails none of the effects of legitimate parental filiation. So-called adoption by gratification (Jaza) or testamentary adoption (Tanzil), by which a person is placed in the rank of a first-degree heir, does not establish paternal filiation and follows the rules of testament (Wassiya). CHAPTER II: ON PATERNAL FILIATION AND ITS MEANS OF PROOF
Paternal filiation is the legitimate bond that unites the father to his child and that is transmitted from father to son.