Jewish Divorce: Where the Get and the Court Order Meet

A Jewish divorce runs on two tracks at once, and they do not keep pace with each other automatically. One is religious: the Get, arranged through a Beth Din. The other is civil: the divorce application, the conditional order and the final order. The family court in England and Wales makes each of those orders. Finishing one track does not finish the other. So a person can hold a final order from the court and still remain married in Jewish law. They cannot remarry in an Orthodox synagogue. And a wife whose husband will not give a Get becomes an agunah, a “chained” spouse.

Most pages about this explain the religious ceremony. This one explains where English law actually bites. It covers what the court can do about a spouse who will not co-operate, and when it can do it. It also marks the point after which the court no longer can.

What is a Get in Jewish divorce, and who has to agree to it?

A Get is a bill of divorce, and it ends the marriage in religious law only. The London Beth Din states that Jewish divorce “requires the consent of both the husband (who must freely give the Get) and the wife (who must freely receive the Get)”. It adds: “there is no requirement that either party establishes grounds for divorce such as unreasonable behaviour, separation or adultery”.

That position explains almost every difficulty that follows. Because the Get turns on consent rather than on a court’s decision, no religious authority can impose one. The London Beth Din says so itself. If either party is unwilling to co-operate, it “cannot override the consent of the parties”. It can apply pressure through formal summonses (hazmanot) and a declaration that a person is a mesarev Get. Communal sanctions can follow, and they can extend to withdrawing United Synagogue membership privileges. But the Beth Din cannot sign the document for an absent spouse.

How the Beth Din arranges a Jewish divorce

Mechanically, the London Beth Din describes a two-appointment process. The first is a telephone appointment of around fifteen minutes. At it, a Dayan checks the Hebrew names of the parties and their fathers. The Dayan also identifies anything that might impede the Get. The second appointment is in person. The husband instructs a scribe (a sofer) and, where needed, an agent (a shaliach) to hand the Get over. The scribe then writes it in the presence of two witnesses (eidim). A Dayan checks the document before the wife receives it. The Beth Din puts that second appointment at around two and a half hours in total. It also says the parties must remain in London while the scribe writes the Get.

What can the Beth Din decide, and what can it not?

The Beth Din decides the religious status of the marriage. It does not decide your finances or your children, and it says so on its own website. Its arbitration page lists matters it is not qualified to consider under arbitration law. It names “financial settlements on a divorce, arrangements for children if parents are in dispute and some aspects of inheritance”.

This matters more than it first appears. The London Beth Din does run a genuine arbitration service, a Din Torah, heard by a panel of three Dayanim. It works under a signed arbitration agreement, and the civil courts will enforce the award. But the Beth Din describes those cases as primarily commercial: employer and employee, landlord and tenant, partnership, breach of contract. Family money and family children fall outside it. So in a Jewish divorce, the Beth Din can free you to remarry in Jewish law and nothing more. Everything else is for the family court: the house, the pensions, maintenance and where the children live. The court decides those, or you agree them and the court seals the agreement in a financial consent order.

The Beth Din is also clear that neither side should trade one against the other. It says the Get “relates singularly to the halachic dissolution of the marriage” and not to the ancillary issues. It also says a Get “should be given as quickly as possible after the couple has separated and will not be linked to any other issues arising out of the marital breakdown”. And it regards using a Get as leverage as an abuse of the process.

Does a Get end your marriage in English law?

No. A Get has no civil effect whatsoever. Your marriage ends in English law when the family court makes a final order, and not before. Under section 1(4) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, a divorce order is in the first instance a conditional order. The court may not make it final before six weeks have passed from the conditional order.

One point sets Jewish marriage apart from some other religious marriages in England and Wales. It matters, because it changes which questions you need to ask. Section 26(1)(d) of the Marriage Act 1949 expressly names a marriage “between a man and a woman professing the Jewish religion according to the usages of the Jews”. It lists that marriage as one a couple may solemnise on the authority of a marriage schedule. In other words, the synagogue ceremony is itself the civil ceremony. A couple married that way normally has a legally valid English marriage from the day of the chuppah. That marriage carries all the usual financial claims, which matters if a Jewish divorce follows.

That is the opposite of the position where a religious ceremony takes place without any civil registration. We look at that question separately in relation to whether a nikah is legally valid in the UK. Equally, a Get is not an annulment. Annulment is a declaration that a marriage was void or voidable from the outset. A Get does the reverse: it dissolves a marriage everyone accepts was valid. If you are unsure which applies to you, put that question to a family lawyer before anyone files anything.

How does the Jewish divorce process fit the court timetable?

The civil timetable runs to fixed periods and the Get does not. So the practical task is to start the Get early enough to finish inside the civil window. Under section 1(5) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, there is a minimum wait before the case moves on. A party may not confirm they wish the application to continue until 20 weeks from the start of proceedings have passed. The court cannot make the conditional order until they confirm. Six weeks then have to pass before the conditional order can become final.

The London Beth Din’s stated expectation, where a couple have separated, is that “the Get is completed within a few weeks of application, rather than months, regardless of whether all other issues in the divorce have been resolved”. It also advises that you can apply for a Get at any time after separation. You should not wait for the civil proceedings. Its guidance goes further. It says, in terms, that it is advisable to apply for a Get well before the court makes the conditional order. The reason is the section 10A route set out below.

So the sequence that causes the fewest problems is simple. Apply for the Get as soon as the marriage has irretrievably broken down. Then run it alongside the civil divorce application rather than after it. That way both halves of a Jewish divorce move together. The current fee to apply for a divorce in England and Wales is £628. Help with fees is available on a low income.

What is section 10A, and when will a court hold up a final order?

Section 10A is the one piece of English law written specifically for this problem, and it is narrow. It lets either party ask for an order that the divorce order is not made final. That order holds until both spouses produce a declaration. In it, they confirm they have taken the steps needed to dissolve the marriage religiously. The Divorce (Religious Marriages) Act 2002 inserted it into the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. The 2002 Act received Royal Assent on 24 July 2002 and came into force on 24 February 2003. It extends to England and Wales only.

How section 10A works in a Jewish divorce

Read the current wording closely, because the terminology changed on 6 April 2022. That is when the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 came into force. Section 10A now applies where “a divorce order has been made but not made final”. The parties must also have married “in accordance with the usages of the Jews, or any other prescribed religious usages”. And they “must co-operate if the marriage is to be dissolved in accordance with those usages”. Four things follow from the section, and each one is a decision point:

• The window is real and it closes. The section only operates between the conditional order and the final order. Before the conditional order there is nothing to hold back. After the final order there is nothing left to hold.
• Either party can apply. Section 10A(2) says “on the application of either party”. It is not a wife’s remedy only. A husband whose wife will not receive a Get can use it too.
• It is discretionary. Section 10A(3)(a) allows an order “only if the court is satisfied that in all the circumstances of the case it is just and reasonable to do so”. Section 10A(3)(b) allows the court to revoke it at any time. It is not granted for the asking.
• Both of you have to sign the declaration. That is the practical sting. The order does not free you. It holds the door shut until the other person walks through it with you.

The paperwork: a joint declaration and a religious certificate

Rule 7.23 of the Family Procedure Rules 2010 sets the paperwork. Both parties must make and sign the declaration. It must give particulars of the proceedings in which the court made the order. It must confirm that the parties have taken the required steps. A certificate from a “relevant” religious authority must go with it, confirming those steps. If the certificate is not in English, a certified English translation must accompany it. The declaration goes to the court before or with the application to make the conditional order final. A related rule also matters. Before making the conditional order final, the court must satisfy itself that the parties have complied with any section 10A order.

One more detail the statute quietly records. Section 10A(1)(a) covers the usages of the Jews and “any other prescribed religious usages”. Here “prescribed” means prescribed by the Lord Chancellor by statutory instrument. The Act names the Jewish usages on its face. Whether the Lord Chancellor has ever added other usages by order is something to check case by case, not assume.

Is get refusal domestic abuse?

It can be, and the Government has said so in terms. The Home Office’s statutory guidance under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 addresses it at paragraph 81. It states that “a form of domestic abuse may include the withholding of a religious divorce, as a means to control and intimidate victims”. It adds that “abuse relating to faith can amount to psychological or emotional abuse and to coercive or controlling behaviour”. Paragraphs 82 and 83 name the Get specifically. They record that the ability to refuse one “has been recognised as a specific issue providing abusive husbands with power and control and will sometimes be used to exert leverage in relation to other aspects of the divorce”.

The law behind the guidance

That guidance sits on top of two pieces of law worth knowing about. A third point is an argument rather than a settled rule.

• Section 1 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 defines domestic abuse broadly. It covers controlling or coercive behaviour, economic abuse, and psychological or emotional abuse. It applies between people aged 16 or over who are “personally connected”. That includes people who are or have been married to each other. It expressly does not matter whether the behaviour is a single incident or a course of conduct.
• Section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 makes controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship a crime. The offence covers repeated or continuous behaviour between people who are “personally connected”. The behaviour must have a serious effect, and the person must know or ought to know it will.
• Section 25(2)(g) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 applies when the court decides a financial settlement. It requires the court to have regard to “the conduct of each of the parties, if that conduct is such that it would in the opinion of the court be inequitable to disregard it”. Whether a particular refusal clears that bar is a case-specific argument. It is not one to run without advice.

Sometimes a refusal sits alongside other controlling behaviour. Protective options such as a non-molestation order may then be relevant on their own facts. Children may also be caught up in the religious side of the separation. That is a distinct question, which we deal with under religion and child arrangements.

What does a Get cost, and how long does it take?

The London Beth Din publishes its fees. It states that the standard cost of a Get is £695. That falls to £495 for United Synagogue members. The fee is £100 where a scribe writes the Get overseas and the wife receives it at the London Beth Din. A £100 deposit accompanies the application. It also says it will never turn a couple away because they cannot afford the fee. It may, though, hold back the Get certificate until the couple pay. And it can waive fees on application in cases of financial difficulty.

On timing, the Beth Din’s stated expectation is a few weeks from application rather than months. The second appointment itself runs to around two and a half hours. Roughly twenty-five minutes go on instructing the scribe and about an hour on writing the Get, then comes the handover.

There is a practical point buried in the Beth Din’s own guidance that is easy to miss. It says the couple should agree in negotiations who will pay for the Get, if they will not share the cost equally. That agreement “should be clearly stated in any consent order relating to financial provision”. The reason is that an agreement to share the cost is enforceable only between the parties, not by the Beth Din. That is one line in a financial consent order. It costs nothing to include while the order is in draft. It is expensive to argue about once the court has sealed the order. The same logic applies more widely to the financial settlement after divorce.

Does this work the same across England and Wales, and across communities?

Yes on the law, not necessarily on the religious procedure. The Divorce (Religious Marriages) Act 2002 extends to England and Wales. So section 10A is available in the family court in Cardiff and Swansea exactly as it is in London or Leeds. The 20-week and six-week periods are identical throughout.

The religious side varies by community. The London Beth Din, the court of the Chief Rabbi, administers most Gittin in the UK. Other Orthodox authorities operate their own Batei Din. Reform Judaism in the UK has its own Beit Din. It deals with a Get among other matters of Jewish status. Some couples married under non-Orthodox Jewish auspices or in a register office, and some were cohabiting. For them, the London Beth Din advises asking it whether they need a Get, rather than assuming.

The practical consequence is simple: confirm early which authority will issue the Get. Under rule 7.23, the court will look to that authority’s certificate. Getting that wrong late in a Jewish divorce can cost you the window.

Jewish divorce: frequently asked questions

What is a Get in Judaism?

A Get is a bill of divorce that dissolves a marriage under Jewish law. The London Beth Din describes it as requiring the consent of both spouses. The husband must freely give it and the wife must freely receive it. The Beth Din also says neither spouse has to establish grounds such as unreasonable behaviour, separation or adultery. Once the wife receives it, the Beth Din issues Get certificates in Hebrew and English to both parties.

Can a Jewish woman divorce her husband?

She can apply for a civil divorce in exactly the same way as anyone else. She can do so on her own, and the court does not need her husband’s agreement. In Jewish law the position is different. The husband must give the Get and the wife must receive it. The London Beth Din states it cannot override the consent of either party. Where a husband refuses, section 10A of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 is the English law route. The Beth Din can also apply communal pressure through formal summonses and sanctions.

What are the grounds for divorce in Judaism?

There are none to prove, in the sense English lawyers would recognise. The London Beth Din states expressly that neither party needs to establish grounds such as unreasonable behaviour, separation or adultery. The civil position now matches it. Since April 2022, an English divorce application rests on a statement of irretrievable breakdown. The other spouse cannot contest it on the merits.

Does an Orthodox Jewish divorce need a civil divorce as well?

Yes. A Get has no civil effect. Until the family court makes a final order, you remain married in English law. That carries all the financial consequences of marriage, including on death and on any later remarriage. Equally, a civil final order does not dissolve the marriage in Jewish law. That is why an unresolved Get leaves a person unable to remarry in an Orthodox synagogue.

What is an agunah?

An agunah is a wife who cannot remarry under Jewish law because her husband will not give her a Get. The Home Office’s statutory guidance under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 addresses this directly. It records that refusal to give a Get is a recognised way for abusive husbands to gain power and control. Husbands sometimes use it as leverage over other aspects of the divorce. It also has a significant impact on the wife’s social and personal life and her ability to remarry.

Can the Beth Din decide our finances or arrangements for the children?

No. The London Beth Din’s published position covers three areas. They are financial settlements on a divorce, arrangements for children where parents are in dispute, and some aspects of inheritance. It says it is not qualified to consider these under arbitration law. In a Jewish divorce, the family court decides those, or the parties agree them and the court approves the agreement.

Is get refusal illegal in the UK?

There is no offence of “get refusal” by that name. What exists instead is section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015. It criminalises repeated or continuous controlling or coercive behaviour between people who are “personally connected”, where it has a serious effect. There is also the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 definition of abuse. The Home Office statutory guidance says withholding a religious divorce can meet that definition. Whether a particular refusal crosses either line depends entirely on the facts, and is a matter for advice.

How much does a Get cost at the London Beth Din?

The London Beth Din states a standard cost of £695, with a reduced rate of £495 for United Synagogue members. The fee is £100 where the scribe writes the Get overseas and the handover takes place at its offices. A £100 deposit accompanies the application. It says it will not refuse a couple a Get because they cannot pay. It can also waive fees on application.

We are already divorced by the court. Is it too late for section 10A?

For section 10A, yes. The section only applies while a divorce order has been made but not made final. Once the final order exists, there is nothing for the court to hold back. That does not necessarily leave you without options, because the abuse and conduct routes above are separate. But the simplest and cheapest lever has gone. It is the single most common avoidable mistake in a Jewish divorce.