On Sunday, March 1, rabbis and legal experts in Israel launched a new prenuptial agreement as a “legal loophole” to enable women to file for divorce, reports The Times of Israel.
Under Jewish law, only men are allowed to file for divorce, and can refuse a wife’s appeal forcing her to be legally “chained to the marriage” indefinitely—a condition known as “agunot.”
According to The Times of Israel, the divorce law affects all women in Israel, because, whether religious or not, all “life cycle events” are controlled by Jewish law courts that operate with authority of the state; under Israeli civil law a marriage cannot be dissolved unless by the religious courts.
The family attorneys at Chaninat and Leeds specialize in drafting and registering Thailand prenuptial agreements for domestic and international clients.
The new marriage registration reform—spearheaded by the Religious Zionist Rabbinic organization, The Israel Bar Association, and the Tzohar (an organization of rabbis)—recognizes the reality of the 30 to 40 percent divorce rate in Israel and offers a practical, if not historic, solution to agunot that meets the requirements of both Israeli law and Jewish law.
“It took us six years and 16 versions to finalize it,” said Rabbi Elisha Aviner from Ma’aleh Adumim, as quoted by San Diego Jewish World. “We created an agreement where stage one is to try and save the marriage in the event that one of the parties wants to. Only after that process is explored is the decision to activate the terms of legally binding agreement decided upon.”
Rabbi David Stav, chairman of Tzohar, said, “This agreement can and should become the norm in Israeli society to ensure that the end of a marriage and separating from your partner will be treated with respect and dignity.”
Read the full story here and here.
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