Get (divorce Document) - Requirements

Requirements

Halakha requires specific formalities for a get to be considered valid.

• A divorce document must be written; this is usually done by a professional religious scribe, a sofer. It must have been written on the explicit instruction and free-willed approval of the husband, with the specific intention that it is to be used by the man and for the specific woman. (It cannot be initially written with blanks to be filled in later.)

• It must be delivered to the wife, whose physical acceptance of the get is required to complete and validate the divorce process.

• There are certain detailed requirements relating to the legal and religious nature of the get itself. For example:
  • It must be written on a fresh document, and there must be no possibility of cleanly erasing the text.
  • It may not be written on anything which is attached to the ground (for instance, a fig leaf).
  • The get may not be pre-dated.

Any deviation from these requirements invalidates the get and the divorce procedure.

A get must be given of the free will of the husband; however, consent of the wife is not Biblically mandated (nevertheless, Ashkenazic tradition provides that a husband may not divorce his wife without her consent). A get may not be given out of fear of any obligation either party undertook to fulfill in a separation agreement. Such an agreement may provide for matters such as custody of the children and their maintenance, and property settlement. But either party may withdraw from such an agreement, on the question of the dissolution of the marriage only, if they can satisfy the court of a genuine desire to restore matrimonial harmony. In such a situation all the recognised matrimonial obligations continue to apply. On the other hand, pecuniary conditions stipulated by the parties in the separation agreement would still be valid and enforceable, though the marriage state continues to exist.