jeudi 8 février 2018

Divorce in Tunisia

Divorce in Tunisia is governed by the Personal Status Code ( P. S. C) promulgated in 1956. It is defined by article 29 of the Code as the dissolution of the contract of marriage.

Major new rules were established by the Code in opposition with former legal system based on religion.

Article 30 of the Code rules that divorce must be pronounced by court. This means that it can only take place through court. thus, the Code abolished former “repudiation” based on Islamic law. Repudiation was the ability for a man to decide unilaterally the end of marriage without recourse to court and without reparation to the woman.

The competent court to deal with divorce cases is the “court of first  instance” in whose jurisdiction the defendant party is resident. In every tribunal, a family judge is designated to hear divorce disputes.

The judicial intervention in divorce is a must even when divorce is the result of a mutual consent. Both spouses have to go before the judge to fulfill their agreement and put an end to marriage. A notarial act or any other document is not sufficient to divorce.

Besides, the Code established equality between spouses as to the cases of divorce. It is ruled in Article 31 of the code that divorce can occur in three cases:
First, by mutual consent of the spouses.
Second, when requested by one of the spouses because of the harm it has suffered from the other.
Third, when requested by one of the spouses.

Whereas the first type of divorce does not have any financial consequences in the sens that neither the plaintiff nor the defendant has a right to receive damages, the second and the third type of divorce may engender reparation to one of the spouses for material or moral prejudice when requested.

The party who requests divorce for harm had to prove the existence of a harmful act.  Adultery and domestic violence are two reasons accepted by courts to pronounce divorce and reparation.

These major rules established by the Code since 1956 make that divorce in Tunisia is a very different legal matter when compared to the old system based on religion.

The Personal Status Code in Tunisia was presented politically as a new interpretation of the Islamic Charia. However, it is undeniable that  the Code established many rules with no basis in Islamic family law. It outlawed Polygamy which was a fundamental rule in all Islamic family regulations.


All the subsequent amendments of the Code ( on June 19, 1959 by law 59-77; April 21, 1964 by law 64-1; February 18, 1981 by law 81-7; and July 12, 1993 by law 93-74.) subscribed to the will of modernization established since 1956.

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