To many people, marriage is not only a legal commitment, but also a religious vow binding one individual to another. Those people may believe that marriage imposes a non-negotiable obligation for the rest of their lives, preventing them from divorcing in the event that their marriage breaks down.

Although Jesus is known to touch upon divorce within the Bible, some people following the Roman Catholic faith do not recognise divorce and so, whilst couples may be granted a legal divorce, some believe that they will still remain married “in the eyes of God”.  It is for this reason that people may opt for a judicial separation, rather than a divorce, so that whilst they remain married, they are legally recognised as separated.

On the other hand, some religions will require that a religious process is followed, different to that of a legal divorce, to entirely break the marital link. For example, the main category of divorce in Islam is known as the “talaq”, which is the husband’s right to divorce his wife by merely announcing that he repudiates her, namely that he rejects her. Similarly, many people following the Jewish faith believe that their marriage has not officially ended until a document referred to as a “get” has been granted. A get is a bill of divorce written by a scribe and then presented to a wife by her husband, stating that she is “hereby permitted to all men”.

A Jewish businessman has recently made the headlines for accusing the Family Court of discriminating against him following a judgement made at the conclusion of financial proceedings. In this case, the husband had been ordered to pay his wife a lump sum of £1.6 million plus monthly spousal maintenance payments of £1,850 per month. The court directed that these maintenance payments should continue until the husband grants a get to the wife. The Judge in this case believed that the husband had deceived the court by hiding his wealth and so concocted the order in an attempt to encourage the husband to grant the get.

Under Jewish law, a get is only valid in the event that both parties are entering the ritual of their own free will. The husband’s argument in this case was that any get he presents would be invalidated as a result of the court effectively “forcing him to grant it”. The husband appealed the financial order on the basis that he feels he is stuck between a rock and a hard place – he is unable to give his wife a valid get and so will be obligated to pay maintenance to her for the foreseeable future. The wife’s representative however asserted that there was “no good reason for the husband to withhold the get” and that “any difficulty would be of the husband’s own making”.

If you are thinking about separating, or have already separated and are not sure where you stand, our team at Jackson Lees are more than happy to help.

If you would like to talk to one of our specialist family law advisers, please call us free on 0800 387 927, request a callback at your convenience or email us your enquiry.