Saudi considering new law to combat rise in divorce

Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council is considering implementing a law to stop the surging numbers of divorces in the kingdom.

UAE daily News reported on Monday that Talal Bakri, head of the committee for family affairs at the council, told media the authority is set to begin deliberations on various provisions of a draft divorce law.

Saudi husbands are turning to reckless pronouncements of divorce, and wives were shocked to receive divorce papers without their husbands informing them of the divorce.

Under the new law the divorce would only be valid if it was registered in a courtroom in the presence of the estranged couple, if the husband pronounced the divorce in the absence of their wife it would not be valid.

Saudi divorce rate is extremely high with nearly 62 percent of marriages ending in divorce.

There is more than 1.5 million spinsters in Saudi, according to the report, meaning women who have missed the ‘optimum age’ of marriage.

Source: Arabianbusiness.com