Central Family Court to pass important judgment on Bride Price or Mahr in the UK.
A landmark judgement regarding ‘bride price’ in the UK is due, the Guardian Newspaper reports.
Bride price or Mahr is money or property paid or promised by a groom or his family to the woman or the family of the woman he will marry and is intended to provide financial support. Under sharia law, the wife has the right to ask for her full mahr at any time during her marriage or upon its dissolution.
Currently, women who are married under UK civil law, are currently unable to demand mahr payment in full upon divorce. They must instead apply to the family court as part of the overall financial settlement (under section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973.)
The ruling would be applicable not only to Muslim women but to women from all cultural backgrounds where the tradition of giving mahr (or a bride price) is practised.
This would be regardless of immigration status in the UK or whether the mahr contract was in oral or written form.
You can look at more from this story as reported in the Guardian: Landmark UK court ruling due in ‘bride price’ dispute