📌 Subject of the Principle
The date of terminating a wife’s maintenance (nafaqa) in case she was unaware of the divorce.
📜 Text of the Principle
The date of terminating a wife’s maintenance, in the event that she was unaware of the divorce, or the husband refrained from acknowledging it, shall be from the date on which this divorce is officially established.
✨ Interpretation of the Principle
- Maintenance does not end upon the mere occurrence of divorce, but rather from the date the wife is officially informed of it.
- Divorce must be officially registered/established in court.
- If the husband claims that divorce occurred on an earlier date but did not officially register it, the wife remains entitled to maintenance until the divorce is officially established.
- Rationale: The wife is considered "legally bound to him" until the divorce is officially proven, which entitles her to maintenance up to that point.
📑 Decision Summary
- Termination of maintenance = from the date of official registration of divorce, not from the alleged date of divorce.
ℹ️ Decision Details
- Principle Number: 31 / 2017
- Date: 2/8/2017
- Court: Supreme Sharia Court – Technical Office
- Reference: Al-Sharh al-Wafi li-Mabadi’ wa-Qararat al-Mahkama al-‘Ulya al-Shar‘iyya al-Urdunniyya by Lawyers Mahmoud Naeem & Omar Abu Bakr (pp. 48–49).