[ChristinaRizkallah]

Lotus: thanks again for your explanation, you are really knowledgable in this subject! I didn't realize it was such a technical field with all these rules/regulations.

Originally Posted by lotus

Hi Christina,
I think the marriage contracts tend to be written like prenups. So the guy has to pay whatever he agreed to beforehand in addition to the alimony. But also IIRC there is generally a lump sum settled on the woman in addition to alimony, which is recurring payments.

The lump sum comes from the "mahr" which is dowry paid by the groom to the bride. argh, where is my notebook from class? The bride is not required to contribute the household expenses whatsoever, and the mahr is her money. If a woman contributes to household expenses whatsoever, it qualifies as charity and she accrues the same benefit spritually as if she gave to any foundation. So, theoretically, if the mahr is a good size to start with she should be ok after a divorce.

I've read in one place that if the woman really wants to get out of a marriage, but the husband has technically done nothing wirng, she can apportion part of her dowry to him in exchange for a "khul" divorce, but I don't know how kosher, urm I mean "halal" this is technically.

Besides alimony, which is damages for the marriage itslef - if there are children the man still has to pay a salary to the mother, plus household, medical and educational expenses for the children.

If a girl's family is looking out for her, I assume they would encourage the contract to also include a lot of other clauses to make the guy sorry he ever changed his mind as well.

Inwiritng the contract, one person is the holder of the 'isma (the knot). This is the more powerful position, as the holder of the knot is empowered to initiate divorce proceedings. It is usually the man, but can be the woman.

Anyway, all this stuff is what we are learning in my jurisprudence class. In real life, I'm sure people pull all kinds of tricks during a divorce, regardless. Human nature and all.