Monday, January 31, 2011

Family Law and Religion: Religious Divorce

It's not every day that someone's divorce results in protests to the staff of the House Ways and Means Committee. Maryland, unlike New York, apparently does not have a legal mechanism by which recalcitrant divorcing husbands can be directly coerced into granting their observant ex-wives religious divorces, so it appears the judge may have fashioned his own remedy. While I have some serious doubts regarding the Federal constitutionality of the New York get statute, I also understand the civil law effects, internationally, of the absence of a get.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Richard,
Maryland had a bill to fix that, somewhat, in 1999, but it never got out of committee. It said if you filed for (civil) divorce, your spouse could ask you for an affidavit that you had taken all steps solely within your power to remove religious obstacles to remarriage, and then you wouldn't get a civil divorce until you filed the affidavit.
- John Crouch

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