Legal Developments of Divorce in Iran: Analysis of Laws and Implementation Challenges
Subject Areas : Civil LawSeyyedeh Zeynab sadat Mortazavi 1 , Sayyed Ali Jabbar Golbaghi Masouleh 2
1 - Student of Master’s Degree in Private Law, Department of Law, Ahrar Institute of Higher Education, Rasht, Iran.
2 - Assistant Professor, Department of Jurisprudence and Law, Faculty of Humanities, Lahijan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Lahijan, Iran.
Keywords: Divorce, Family Protection Law, Legal Developments, Hardship and Difficulty, Implementation Challenges, Family Counselor, Wife’s Financial Rights,
Abstract :
Divorce, as one of the major crises of adulthood, despite the governmental policies in Iran that are based on the principle of “minimal divorce” and the strengthening of the family foundation, has shown an increasing trend and has become one of the saddest social phenomena. The aim of this research is to examine the developments in legislation within the Iranian legal system (from the Civil Code to the Family Protection Law of 2012) and to identify the structural and executive challenges that have prevented the laws from effectively reducing the rate of separation and ensuring justice. This study adopts a descriptive-analytical method and relies on library research, including the examination of legal texts, the detailed records of the Islamic Consultative Assembly’s deliberations, judicial practices, and analyses of the Iranian legal system in the field of family law. The findings indicate that legal developments in Iran have sought to regulate men’s right to divorce and to facilitate women’s requests for divorce through the expansion of the grounds of hardship and difficulty (osr va haraj). Nevertheless, serious implementation challenges remain, such as interpretative ambiguities in distinguishing between the “certificate of non-reconciliation” and the “divorce decree,” the formalistic nature of mandatory counseling sessions, and delays in legal proceedings related to the proof of financial rights such as wage compensation for household services (ojrat al-mesl) and the discretionary gift (nahleh). Moreover, the transition into the era of modernity and the transformation of emotional expectations have deepened the gap between legal provisions and social realities. The results of this research show that the current policies for managing divorce in Iran are largely “reactive and remedial,” being implemented at a stage when the crisis has already reached its peak. To improve this process, it is necessary not only to standardize judicial procedures but also to focus on preventive education and the reform of contractual conditions within marriage contracts in order to prevent the parties from becoming entangled in prolonged judicial proceedings.
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