Kota Kinabalu: Non-Muslim women seeking divorces sometimes have to wait up to three years if their spouses refuse to agree, said lawyer Nooradila Abdull Aziz.
“This is in contrast to cases where both husband and wife agree to separate, which can be settled in just three months,” the lawyer practising in Kuala Lumpur under the law firm Adila Aziz & Associates told a forum on women’s rights recently.
She was among the panel speakers invited for the forum jointly organised by the Sabah Women’s Action Resource Group (Sawo) and Telenisa.
Telenisa is a free legal advice service on matters related to issues related to Shariah Islamic Family Law, such as divorce, polygamy, alimony of wife and children, matrimonial property and others.
Nooradila said there are two types of divorce cases under the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976, which covers non-Muslims in Sabah and Sarawak.
The first is a joint petition where both parties agree on everything, including who gets the children, how to divide property and how much money the husband pays the wife.
The second is a contested petition where one party disagrees and fights the divorce.
“Joint petition cases where both parties agree can be resolved very quickly, within three months. But contested petitions where one party disagrees can drag on for three years or more,” she said.
She said that all non-Muslim divorce cases go to the High Court, not lower courts like the Magistrate’s Court or Sessions Court.
For joint petitions, couples can discuss and list down all their assets, decide on child custody arrangements and agree on monthly payments before going to court.
“They only need to attend court once. The judge will ask if they agree to the terms and then grant a divorce order, either immediately or within one to three months.
“This waiting period is meant to give couples time to reconcile if they change their minds.
“However, for contested cases, the process is much longer and more complicated,” she said.
She said couples must first go to the Marriage Tribunal at the National Registration Department to try to settle their differences.
“Only after getting a certificate from the tribunal saying they cannot be reconciled can they file for divorce in court,” she said.
In contested cases, both sides must prepare thick documents detailing their entire marriage history, including how they met, what went wrong and any evidence of problems.
“Everything becomes very detailed. You must explain how you met your spouse, how long you were friends and even details about your in-laws. That is why the documents become very thick,” she said.
Each side will file papers, the other side responds and then they respond again. This back-and-forth can happen up to five times.
Nooradila said the main reason for divorce in contested cases must be that the marriage has broken down completely and cannot be fixed.
She urged women to keep financial records even when their marriage seems fine, as these documents become crucial evidence in court.
“Many women do not realise they need these documents until it is too late. Keep everything ... renovation receipts, personal loan statements, even grocery bills,” she said.
