Choosing a court of preference saves women travel hassle in marriage-related cases

JEDDAH: The Justice Ministry reiterated that women could file marriage-related cases at the nearest court, which exempts them from the regulation obliging the plaintiff to file the case at the defendant’s place of residence.
“Women have the option to file marital, custody and visits, alimony and Adhl cases (when fathers prevent daughters from marriage) at their city or town of residence,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted Abdulrahman bin Noah, undersecretary of the Ministry of Justice for Judicial Affairs, as saying.
The ministry said Article 36 of the Shariah Proceedings Act stipulates that a case against a person must be filed at that person’s place of residence. However, personal affairs cases stipulated in Section 2 of Article 39 are exempt from the regulation.
The law was passed three years ago and has been serving hundreds of women who were previously struggling with processing their divorce papers, custody cases and other personal affairs.
“This procedure has been announced a few years ago and it has given women much comfort,” Suhaila Zain Al-Abideen, a Saudi social activist and senior member of the National Society for Human Rights, told Arab News.
She added that some men delay processing divorce and custody cases by not showing up and women must wait for a long time for their cases to be resolved. Women also had to repeatedly travel to where the defendant lives to go to court when some could not afford the travel expenses.
According to the law, if the other party did not attend then the case is processed in absentia.
Al-Abideen said she still hopes more procedures related to women’s affairs are better facilitated.
“For example, working on custody cases and child alimony cases simultaneously would speed up finalizing them,” she said. “Having to reach a verdict in a custody case before filing for another child alimony case causes so much delay.”