Divorce Iranian Muslims in the U.S. Courts

The Iranian family law was codified in 1928 and 1935 the proportion of the Iranian Civil Code. Housing law the exact age requirement for marriage, prohibition of marriage of girls under 13 years and requiring court approval for the marriage of children under 15 years. In 1931, separate legislation, known as the Marriage Law (Qanun-I izdivaj) was enacted, marriage was subject to the provisions of the situation and requires registration of all marriages and divorces in civil registers. The 1931 law expanded the grounds on which women can begin the process of divorce and the necessary actions to be brought before the civil courts rather than Islamic sharia courts.


In 1967, the Law on Protection of the Family (khanivada himaya qanun-II) was enacted. This law was considered a deviation from Islamic sharia out of fashion. Rights were abolished husband's extra-judicial divorce and polygamy, and the increasing age of marriage and 15 for women and 18 men. The law established special religious courts headed by judges trained in the unique case. This law was criticized by the Muslim clergy, calling it anti-Islamic, and was considered a violation of Islamic principles Shri.

In 1975, the Law of Family Protection Act was replaced by another with the same title. This law raised the minimum marriage age from 15 to 18 for women and 18 to 20 for men, and provided that the courts discretion to resolve cases of child custody democracy, regardless of the provisions of Islamic Sharia.

After the 1979 Iranian revolution or the Ayatollah Khomeini (1902-1989), the Law on Protection of the Family was canceled and replaced by the Law on Special Civil Court. The law was enacted entirely unusual in the law enforcement Ashar ithnai Shia (Twelvers), the courts are empowered to deal with a wide range of family matters, including divorce. According to the law unusual, honest marriage for girls fell to nine, 15 for men, and members of Iranian society were strictly separated by gender. Women were forced to cede the hijab and not allowed to appear in public with a man who was not a husband or a relationship to light, as brother, father or son. Women can be stoned for adultery, which by the way, including being raped. But the reformists under the chairmanship of age, Khatami, allowed single yawning abroad and raising the right age for marriage from nine to 13 for girls. However, the testimony of a woman in Iran is worth half that of a man in court and in the case of blood money that the family of a murderer is obliged to pay the family of the victim, women estimated at half the value of a man.

In mid-2007, Ahmadi Najad's government began implementing restrictive laws, women who wear makeup and not too strong enough scarf were arrested, they were banned first in the country attending football matches very dear place in public stadiums, but later, under pressure, the president allowed the women to help the games, because their presence would be "morally uplifting" and originate men behave better.

The original law required the marriage and divorce to be registered in court, the husband has an unconditional right to divorce his wife, for which he needs to not give any reason and his wife is almost transparent to lose custody of their children. The unusual law allows the wife to divorce her husband in khul ', and still have to put before the court a power of the husband to allow her to divorce her husband's name. A woman is allowed to look for a divorce if her husband was insane, impotent or sterile, away from home for no reason, detained, or unable to encourage your wife. A woman seeking a divorce in Iran must provide the court with justification for the acquisition of a divorce decree.

Muslim couples will face a situation of divorce in the United States, finding themselves in a double process of going through the civil and religious divorce, especially for a Muslim woman, which is prohibited under Islamic sharia marriage a non-Muslim man unless he converts. Divorced Muslim men and women should collect additional religious divorce decree from the Muslim authorities that he or she decides to marry according to Sharia, civil divorce alone is not recognized in Islam. Under Islamic sharia, a Muslim woman or man is excited considered married even though he or she has obtained a civil divorce. Failure to gain an Islamic divorce before remarrying, the woman was an adulteress and can be life threatening if traveling to a country where stoning foradultery is separated in the state, including Pakistan, Iran, Sudan and Saudi Arabia.

American Muslims can determine Iranian passport to go to the aid of Iran and score a fast track divorce in that country. Divorce decree stating earn three times "I divorce my wife" in the presence of two male witnesses, reveals evidence of the "dowry" payment representing divorce in Iran, authenticate documents, again to encourage the United States. UU. and acknowledge the recognition of divorce in an Iranian court site. Divorce obtained in Iran is less expensive than the husband, the women collect the amount of "dowry" as stipulated in the contract of marriage, usually less than a U.S. court may decide on, and divorce is obtained in a short time without having to hire a lawyer. Islamic Divorce does not allow women to receive compensation than the amount of "dowry", she and her family agreed before their marriage.

Housing courts in the U.S. agreement with Islamic divorce obtained abroad on the basis of "comity," a discretionary doctrine governs the recognition of divorce given by the courts of a foreign country. Occasionally though, the courts of England and the United States spends the term "international comity" in the sense of general international law, the most common idea of ​​this doctrine is defined as the rules of courtesy or good will who claims to see in their mutual relations, without any sense of law obligations under international law. The desire of a Muslim man to pick a divorce in Iran and has been recognized and applied in the United States, generally are entitled to recognition if it was fully and effectively in Iran and that Iran was the region or domicile of both parties or in at least one of the parties. In other cases, the U.S. recognition of a divorce obtained in Iran depends on the device that divorce has been obtained by mail, by default, by phone or in the appearance of both parties. A divorce obtained in Iran must not violate U.S. public policy and can not be "terrible" to the great principles of U.S. law. courts of the station has the exclusive authority of the inquiry or comment to the recognition of a divorce obtained in Iran.

Although the recognition of divorces in the United States depends on the design of your home, an Iranian divorce can be recognized when both sides are in action, even in the absence of his home. Exclusive Hampshire, a Lebanese Muslim husband secured a divorce, based onIslamic Sharia law, stating that he pronounced the divorce of his wife, saying three times "I divorce you" in his presence and to go to Lebanon to consult a lawyer notice and divorce papers. The only Hampshire family court refused to look at the divorce at the request of the Lebanese side. The court reasoned that the woman would be forced to absorb the cost of an expensive ex parte divorce obtained in a foreign country, where he is domiciled either party.

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