Our lawyers discussed the concept of Mahr or Mehrieh in an earlier post. This post will focus on the ways in which British Columbia family law courts deal with Mehrieh.
Divorce Court Approach
The approach British Columbia divorce courts take towards Mehrieh is uncertain. If the Dowry is treated as gift on top of the 50% presumptive entitlement to family assets, most often men are left with less than 50% of the family assets and a large ‘gift’ they have to pay the wife at the time of marriage break down. This is not fair, say some of the courts in British Columbia.
Other courts award Mahr as a way of respecting other cultures or religions regardless of whether the outcome is fair or not. This approach is due to the Supreme Court of Canada’s approach to a similar concept in Judaism, where the court chose to respect the culture and its traditions over the Canadian approach which usually focuses on equally and logic.
As a middle ground, there are some British Columbia decisions which acknowledge a Dowry as a religious right or a tradition, but try to cancel or void Mahr due to the following factors:
- It is significantly unfair to pay it as the family’s total assets may be worth less than the amount of Mahr;
- The Mahr contract was negotiated shortly before marriage and therefore not enough thought or negotiation took place before the signing of Mahr;
- The parties did not seek independent legal advice;
- The contract was negotiated between the parents and not the parties and is therefore not binding;
Family Asset Splits
Having said the above, the outcome of any Mahr case is so uncertain and expensive that some women decide to go for a 50/50 split on the family assets in Canada and then go to Iran and sue for their Mahr. This means that the husband, upon entering Iran, Iraq or any country that enforces Mahr, has to pay it before being able to exit the country.
And for the above reason, men who marry in Iran immigrate to Canada and divorce here may never go back to their home countries in fear of never being able to exist due to their inability to pay Mahr.
The new Family Law Act which is coming to effect on March 18, 2013, will open dialogue regarding many family issues including Mahr. Talk to our Farsi speaking lawyer at MacLean Family Law. We look forward to a foreseeable and uniform approach to Mahr. We will inform you of any updates on the approach of British Columbia courts to Mahr in the future.
Vancouver Iranian Family Lawyers
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