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Muslim marriage

A monogamy principle is a basis of regulations governing conclusion of marriages in Western countries and countries of the North America. Absence of a registered marriage is an essential condition for conclusion of a valid marriage.
Polygamous marriages are common in Muslim countries.
State registration exists in Muslim countries but it is not obligatory. Existence of a marriage registered in accordance with the established procedure is not an obstacle for a marriage ceremony marriage ceremony in a mosque.
Unfortunately the legal base of a Muslim marriage is insufficiently regulated at a statutable level. It is based on the Koran and the Sunna – fundamental sources of the law. Family and succession relationships, guardianship, relative responsibilities of spouses, parents and children, other relatives are regulated by the Koran and the Sunna. As for polygamous marriage, it is explicitly provided for by regulation 4:3 of the Koran: "… marry those women who are pleasant to you – two, and three, and four".
A Muslim is entitled to marry any woman apart from atheist. It is explained by the sheriat law according to which a husband having unlimited power in the family can proselytize his wife. But an ability of a man to support to all his wives financially is an essential condition for a Muslim marriage.
Muslim women can not marry a man of other religion. Laws of some Muslim countries provide for imprisonment of a woman who married a man of other religion.
A Muslim divorce is practically always initiated by a man who enjoys unlimited rights. A divorce procedure is simplified for a man: an verbal statement is enough for him as a head of the family. A marriage is considered dissolved in case a man says “You are not my wife” three times in public. But notwithstanding a formal equality of men in Islam, marriages among disadvantaged population are not dissolved so often due to expensiveness of legal procedures related to property and alimony issues, upbringing a... Read More »

Divorce in Russia

As I have already mentioned a monogamy principle is a basis of regulations governing conclusion of marriages in Western countries and countries of the North America.

According to the official statistics almost every second family breaks up. That means half of all registered marriages. In the beginning of the XXIst century divorce issues has become more acute and number of divorce continue to increase. Thus we can say that only each fifth marriage concluded after January 01, 2001 survived its 5th anniversary. Psychologists are not able to stop this tendency. Number of divorces per year in the largest Russian cities in the last three years exceeded the number of registered marriages by 10-20 percent. At the same time we can see other trends in towns – young people move to larger towns and cities or abroad.

Citizens of large cities also look abroad. Possibility of living in Europe or America becomes more and more attractive for citizens of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Open borders tempt with new unknown possibilities. And everything seems wonderful and great but families (even those that have existed for many years) break up in a twinkle of an eye. Why? We will try to answer this question. We will consider only three aspects:

Situation 1: one of spouses moves abroad:

In case one of spouses goes abroad and takes a spontaneous decision to stay or "live for some time" the family is not fated but in most cases it is quite difficult to save it. We do not speak about long-term business trips with fixed dates of beginning and ending. We speak about spontaneous decisions. Distance between the spouses in this case becomes so significant that living together becomes impossible. One doesn’t want to come back and the other doesn’t want (or can’t) move abroad. Work, children, parents are among other factors keeping from moving to another country. And the family slowly but steady ceases to exist.

Case history:

I would ... Read More »

Girls, Don’t Ever Marry!

These remarks were inspired by the question of how, if at all, a “legit” marriage is better than a common law one. One visitor at my website asked me: “Karina, why don’t you write about the [negative] legal implications of a common law marriage? Especially after a kid is born… It’s a really important subject to talk about. Write about it.” I guess my response is somewhat different from the purport of the question, but here it is.

First off, thanks for your interest in the subject. I took some time to ponder your question, and I felt like writing an article about it, but a different one, like this one: “Girls, Don’t Ever Marry!”

It is a sad fact that, in the world today, an official marriage does not always mean happiness or even satisfaction. As a lawyer who has to deal with different people with different life stories on a daily basis - people from all over the world - I can testify that marriage is nothing but a headache for too many people, women especially. Even more so after a child is born.

Poor girls! The tricks they have to come up with just to charm and hopefully seduce the man they fancy! But then they have to ensnare the guy and lure him into wedlock, making sure the guy doesn’t run. Then it’s up to them to make a cozy, comfortable home for him. Then comes the baby. They are a real family now, and they could be happy…

But what is happening to our men? Why do they fail so consistently to display their best qualities? Why do they lose their aspiration to make a better life for their family? How come everything – the house, the kids, the shopping – is on the woman’s frail shoulders? And she has to go to work, too…

Have you seen many men with a baby carriage as well as their cell phone and lap-top, or running home from the store with a bag full of groceries to make something special for dinner? I bet you have not. Men who work, bring their paychecks home, don’t drink alcohol and don’t smoke are extinct, ... Read More »

United States Court of Appeals,Second Circuit. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Ahmed AMER, Defendant-Appellant. No. 298, Docket 96-1181. Decided: March 26, 1997

United States Court of Appeals,Second Circuit.

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Ahmed AMER, Defendant-Appellant.
No. 298, Docket 96-1181.
Decided: March 26, 1997 Read More »