Woman fined 200,000 shekels for refusing to divorce husband

Bnei Brak’s ultra-Orthodox rabbinical court.











After couple separated in 2003, husband turned to justice system in attempt to force his wife to accept divorce on grounds of her infertility.

A family court in northern Israel ruled Sunday that a woman owed her husband NIS 200,000 for refusing to divorce her husband, despite the fact that the rabbinic court has required her to do so.

Judge Marina Levy ruled that the woman must financially compensate her husband for violating his autonomy.

Although the couple officially separated in 2003, the husband turned to the justice system in an attempt to force his wife to accept a divorce because of her infertility. The court accepted his claim after he proved that his wife could not bear children, and forced her to get a divorce.

The court then rejected the wife’s appeal, which claimed that the husband was interested in another woman. In response, the wife announced that she would refuse to attend any of the divorce proceedings, despite being summoned numerous times.

Levy claimed that the fine was due to the woman’s past actions, and that a future divorce agreement will not override her obligation to compensate her husband. Levy further ruled that the husband can claim future damages if the wife continues to refuse to accept the divorce.