Divorce (Religious Marriages) Act 2002

Divorce (Religious Marriages) Act 2002
	Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to make provision enabling a court to require the dissolution of a religious marriage before granting a civil divorce
Citation	2002 c. 27
Introduced by	Andrew Dismore
Territorial extent	England and Wales
Dates
Royal assent	24 July 2002
Commencement	24 February 2003
Other legislation
Relates to	Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 ; Family Law Act 1996
Status: Current legislation
Text of statute as originally enacted
Text of the Divorce (Religious Marriages) Act 2002 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

Last updated September 04, 2025

The Divorce (Religious Marriages) Act 2002 (c. 27) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The act amends the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 to allow one party to petition a court to not declare their divorce decree absolute until they have received a similar document from a religion's authority.

Background

The need for the legislation was demonstrated in the 2000 divorce case of O v O.^[1]

Jewish law requires a civil divorce and a Get (religious divorce) for a person to remarry.^[2]

Provisions

The act allows a civil judge to require that a civil divorce until a religious divorce has been carried out.^[3]

Legislative passage

The act was brought before Parliament by Andrew Dismore MP as a private members' bill under the Ten Minute Rule.^[4]

Suggested reform

Muslim Women’s Network UK has suggested amending the act to include Muslim divorces.^[5]

References

↑ O v O (Jurisdiction: Jewish Divorce) [2000] 2 FLR 147
↑ Levine, Deanna (16 June 2011). "Many solicitors remain worryingly ignorant of the Get". The Law Society Gazette. Archived from the original on 3 September 2025. Retrieved 3 September 2025.
↑ Boztas, Senay (8 January 2016). "UK Jewish Orthodox councils 'institutionalising marital captivity and upholding discriminatory religious laws'". The Independent. Archived from the original on 28 December 2023. Retrieved 3 September 2025.
↑ Bates, Stephen (27 July 2002). "Law seeks to ease Jewish divorces". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 15 July 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2025.
↑ Akthar, Nazmin (16 April 2019). "Time to tackle religious marriages". The Law Society Gazette. Archived from the original on 28 April 2019. Retrieved 3 September 2025.

External links

The text of the law as currently in force

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[1] O v O (Jurisdiction: Jewish Divorce) [2000] 2 FLR 147

[2] Levine, Deanna (16 June 2011). "Many solicitors remain worryingly ignorant of the Get". The Law Society Gazette. Archived from the original on 3 September 2025. Retrieved 3 September 2025.

[3] Boztas, Senay (8 January 2016). "UK Jewish Orthodox councils 'institutionalising marital captivity and upholding discriminatory religious laws'". The Independent. Archived from the original on 28 December 2023. Retrieved 3 September 2025.

[4] Bates, Stephen (27 July 2002). "Law seeks to ease Jewish divorces". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 15 July 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2025.

[5] Akthar, Nazmin (16 April 2019). "Time to tackle religious marriages". The Law Society Gazette. Archived from the original on 28 April 2019. Retrieved 3 September 2025.

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