Ketubah and Divorce

Ketubah and divorce

At the happy moment, just before the husband breaks the glass, he submits to his choice the letter in which he is essentially obligated to take care of all her needs during their life together as a married couple and in addition an amount that he will have to pay if, God forbid, he wants to divorce her. Many are not aware that the ketubah is a legal document for all intents and purposes and do not attach the proper importance to it. A ketubah is much more than the next card to symbolize a ceremonial thing, it is a contract for everything that the husband must respect if and when the situation deteriorates to the point of divorce and with this contract he will go to the Family Court and the Rabbinical Court.

Think before you act

They say love is blinding. Evidence of this we see time and time again when the future owners sign unreasonable amounts when they sign the important document as a sign of their great love. Signing is easy, but regretting the recklessness, it turns out, is much less so. In the event that the couple chooses to divorce, as long as the husband does not prove a justified reason for denying and revoking the letter from the wife, he will have to pay the full amount he committed to at the time of signing. For the purpose of the example, a woman’s infidelity with her husband will be a justified reason for denying the ketubah as long as the husband can prove the infidelity in the rabbinical court. There are many sensitive cases in which the Rabbinical Court must determine whether the woman’s claims are justified and many cases in which the woman files a false complaint in order to exercise her right to the Ketubah. An example of this is a case discussed in the rabbinical court of a woman who claimed that her husband treats her violently, something that ultimately turned out to be false after the matter was examined and the court ruled in favor of the husband. At the same time, in many cases the husband, due to lack of knowledge and experience, did not know how to defend himself and is required to pay hundreds of thousands of shekels.