What is the position when a couple agree to divorce – and the ‘get’ at the rabbinate goes ahead – but it transpires that the wife tricked the husband into divorcing in their divorce agreement dealing with finances which was authorized at the family court ?
By: דיאנה שאלתיאל•Published on: 09 May, 2022When there is a breach of a divorce agreement upon the basis of which the husband agreed to give his wife a ‘get’ there are ” weighty questions of Jewish law concerning the validity of the divorce” , held Tel Aviv District rabbinical court in November 2005. It held that breach of the divorce agreement can lead to the ‘get’ (Jewish divorce) being invalid.
Where a divorce agreement – covering finance among other matters – is made and the ‘get ceremony’ follows, it was held that if the wife had already made up her mind at the ‘get’ ceremony not to honour the agreement , and if the husband had known this at the time and would not have given her the ‘get’ as a result of this, then their divorce would be one obtained by deception and invalid. However, if the husband had said he would divorce his wife without any conditions, then the ‘get’ would be valid. The question of whether the financial aspects of the divorce agreement had been breached would be question for the family court, if it authorized the relevant sections, it held.